Roaming foodie Natasha Al-Atassi refereed the advantages of Rome’s sensational thin-crusted Pizzas, against the creme de la creme of Italian dough, the Naopolitan Pizza from Naples itself.

“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amoré!” goes the song.

And nowhere could this sentiment ring true than in Napoli, Italy, the home of the pizza – according to all Neapolitans.

Fierce competitors with Rome, the pizza of Naples has been a thing of culinary fascination for years. A thicker base than a Roman pizza with just a few simple ingredients reflects the Southern style and flavours of this coastal Italian city.

A GAME OF TWO HALVES, ROME V NAPOLI PIZZAS

Traditionally, there were just two pizza flavours in Naples: Marinara and Margherita. The first is a delicious combination of tomatoes, garlic and oregano.

The second’s the same with the creamy addition of buffalo mozzarella cheese.
Nowadays, hungry tourists can find a plethora of flavours but those two remain firm favourites to all Neapolitans. The trick with Italian food is that no matter how simple the ingredients sound, they really can’t be recreated in the same manner at home – or anywhere else. The flavours and textures come to life in the sing-song shouting atmosphere where you can just imagine pizza dough being flung around the kitchen and thrown into stone baked ovens.

When Mr S and I visited Naples last week (after convincing ourselves that that volcanic ash cloud would ruin our holiday), the best place we found for Napoli’s most famous export (and believe me, we tried many) was Sorbillo. This is a place with as much hype around its history as its food. Having been opened many years ago by Nonna and Nonno, the chain now extends to each of the 21 members of the Sorbillo family, each descendant owning a restaurant somewhere in the world. This one, however, in the centre of Napoli’s old town, is the most popular. There were even queues outside the restaurant despite the variety of pizza trattorias that lined the rest of the street.

FAMILY DISHES

But it is clear why. Along with the strong enthusiasm for family (clear from the photos of Nonna and Nonna up on the wall), Sorbillo has the passion for food that all Italian restaurants should have. Within minutes of sitting down we were tossing up (excuse the pun) our choices. The 21-strong pizza menu has a pizza (€5-7)named after every single one of the Sorbillo family, making your choice a lesson into Italian family as well as their food.

Not ten minutes after we had ordered did these gigantic pizza pies arrive at our table. Spilling over the edge of the already huge pizza plates, this culinary experience was a feast. We briefly considered our foolishness for not sharing the meal but looking around, watching women and children tuck into these humungous pizzas we realised this was simply how it was done here. And when in Rome…or Naples, as the case may be.

PIZZA WARS: ROME V NAPOLI

The absolutely delicious flavours of the fresh tomatoes, strong perfumed garlic, and rich creamy Ricotta cheese complemented the soft dough perfectly, making this one of the tastiest pizzas I’ve ever had in my life. And that’s saying a lot.
When we left (yes, having greedily finished all of our pizzas), I was still in two minds whether Napoli had won the pizza competition with Rome. But one thing was for sure – Sorbillo is the ideal place for giving you the best example of Neapolitan’s finest pizza, the way mama used to make…

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