The birth place of Pizza
Napoli is the birthplace of pizza, one of the most international foods in the world. And much like the diversity in the world, there is also a lot of variations of pizza and adaptations to suit different cuisines and cultures.
I’ve come to Naples to taste the original, and have chosen Da Michele as my pizzeria. It was made famous by the book Eat, Pray, Love and also featured in the movie. As expected, the line at the restaurant is long but moves quickly and we get a table fairly soon. I’m relieved that it’s not JUST tourists, there are Italians dining here as well –always a good sign. There are really only two types if pizza here: Margherita (the original, containing tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil) and Marinara (tomato, garlic, oregano). We both order the Doppio Mozzarella (double mozzarella) and it arrives very quickly.
Ahh…the moment of truth, how does it taste? Well it’s delicious, but I do feel underwhelmed, perhaps because my expectations were so high. The centre is a bit too watery and the edges are too burnt. It still tastes great and I am determined to finish the whole thing (minus the crust which most of the Italians also don’t eat). If I had another day in Napoli, I would have liked to try another acclaimed pizzeria for comparison but I don’t. I may have even been able to wolf down another pizza for dinner (hey, when in Naples, do as the Neopolitans) but Carter is tired of pizza so we have something different for dinner. This coming from the guy who ate pizza non stop in all the other countries we’ve been in but waits till we get to Italy to become tired of it. Well timed.
In conclusion: the pizza here is good and I can tick ‘eat pizza in Naples’ off the list!
