I took Italy by storm, spending a small part of my student life on the benches of the university in Padua, eating with students in the cafeterias. Then we went to Bologna to eat spaghetti bolognese and mortadella, and in Rome we indulged in pasta carbonara.
We ate gianduia in Turin and cantucini in Florence, and when we arrived in Naples, the first stop was a pizzeria. But Naples is not only about pizza, but about real Italian food, as it is: simple and made with soul and dedication.
I knew from the very beginning that we would eat a lot of pizza in Naples, but I never thought that a simple slice of pizza – dough, tomatoes, mozzarella and cooking oil – could bring me so much joy.
Neapolitan pizza is not just a pizza, don’t be fooled by the name, it’s a little piece of heaven, and authentic pizzerias in Naples are little refuges for the body and soul. In fact, in Naples you don’t eat pizza, you enjoy it.
You let yourself be carried away by the smell of fresh basil and spoiled by the taste of San Marzano tomatoes, tomatoes grown at the foot of the Vesuvius volcano. Neapolitan pizza is not food…it’s art!
I’m convinced that I don’t need to tell you that you have to try Neapolitan pizza in Naples, because it goes without saying. Anyway, the first thing you’ll read about Naples will refer to Neapolitan pizza and Naples as the place where pizza was born…that real pizza.
Where to eat the best pizza in Naples?
Tripadvisor is full of restaurants and pizzerias, but there is one place that stands above the rest, which has been passed down from generation to generation and where you will live an authentic Neapolitan experience. L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele is the place loved by tourists and locals, it is a true temple, a holy place.
There may be even better pizza, but we have not experienced many places. The first thing we did when we arrived in Naples was to go to L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. We felt very good there, the pizza was sensational and we really did not want anything else.
But don’t think that we had no time to compare, in fact we went to another pizzeria, and the experience was quite unsatisfactory (grandmother’s pizza, bad service, higher prices).
A bit of the history of the pizzeria
L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele has existed physically since time immemorial. More precisely, since 1870, when Michele Condurro, after decades of courses, research and improvement, opened his own pizzeria, together with his family. The traditions of the Condurro family are sacredly preserved by the fifth generation, and the pizzeria has been in the same location since 1930.
Physically speaking, the pizzeria has nothing fancy or luxurious, but it is a place where you go to quickly eat a pizza freshly taken out of the oven, pay and leave happy. The menu is modest because the great Condurro believed that there were only two types of pizza – margherita and marinara – and that the perfect pizza should have a thin and light dough, tomato juice, mozzarella and a few basil leaves.
Eat Pray Love
The movie Eat Pray Love is responsible for the hordes of tourists and the endless lines you have to stand in if you visit Naples in high season. The author of the book conveys even more emotion than the few-second scene in the movie, saying the following words about da Michele's pizza: "I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return. I am having a relationship with the pizza, almost an affair."
The best pizza in the world!
As I said, after standing in line (we didn't stand for long, and when it was busy, we simply took the pizza to go), you go in, sit at a table (try to sit at a table in the main hall, to enjoy the smell of pizza and have a live demonstration), you order one of the 4 types of pizza, you wait 10-15 minutes, during which you look around either at the oven where the pizza is baked, or at the boards with family photos. Then you enjoy the pizza, pay and leave.
A pizza that goes beyond the edges of the plate costs 8 euros, coperto is 2 euros, and a juice or water costs 2 – 2.5 euros.
Ice Cream at Mennella
The second thing we ate in excess was ice cream at Mennella. The gelateria was halfway between L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele and our hotel (Cineholiday Hotel), and from the first night at Mennella, we were tempted by all sorts of flavors.
Our favorites were gianduia and cantaloupe, and the most unusual flavor of ice cream we’ve ever had was apple peel (it was so good!). It was like we had a ritual… Neapolitan pizza and gianduia ice cream.
Mennella's ice cream is in the top 3 best ice creams I've had in Italy.
There are many Mennella gelaterias scattered throughout the city center; it's a family business; the ice cream is made from natural ingredients and fresh, high-quality milk; there are many special flavors: cassata, apple peel, etc.; the price for two flavors of ice cream is 2.5 euros.
Zeppola di San Giuseppe
Zeppola di San Giuseppe is by far my favorite dessert of this entire culinary journey. Personally, I love vanilla cream cakes, and the Italians really know how to make a vanilla cake.
This cake is common in southern Italy, and its origin is hotly disputed between Sicily and Campania, each of which believes that this dessert was born on its lands. Other stories say that the cake has its origins in North Africa, specifically Tunisia and Egypt, while others say that it was invented during the Roman Empire. Whatever the story, Zeppola di San Giuseppe is the kind of dessert you eat on a shady terrace when you take a break from exploring.
Zeppola di San Giuseppe – Leopold CafeBar
The cake consists of a fried dough, similar to eclair dough, crispy, filled with vanilla cream and served with candied cherries. This is the original recipe, but nowadays there are different combinations. At Leopoldo Cafe Bar – I really recommend this pastry shop-cafe, I ate Zeppola with strawberries.
The price for a zeppola is 5 euros. If you choose to sit on the terrace, a service charge of 3 euros/cake is added.
Baba
Baba is the most famous Neapolitan dessert, which actually does not have its origins in Naples. Strange, right? All the pastry shops sell baba, in all possible forms - small, large, with chocolate, with cherries, plain, with whipped cream or vanilla, and so it has easily become one of the most famous cakes in the city. In other words, it is difficult to leave Naples without tasting this fluffy, syrupy and extraordinarily sweet cake.
Where was the Baba cake invented?
As I said, baba - the abbreviation of Ali Baba, is a cake that appeared in a small town in France, in the 18th century, right in the kitchen of a Polish king in exile. The king, having no teeth (at that time it was a fashion :)) ), took an Austrian cake and soaked it in Tokaji, a type of wine of Hungarian origin.
Later, his daughter replaced the wine with something even better…Jamaican rum. Apparently, the dessert traveled around Europe until it reached Naples, where it took root.
Personally, baba is not a dessert to my taste, but it is worth trying. If you go to Leopoldo, in addition to a zepolla, order a baba, its price being 2-3 euros.
Sfogliatella
Another famous dessert in the Campania region is the sfogliatella. It is believed that these cookies were invented 400 years ago, in a monastery near Conca dei Marini. It is said that the intention was to reproduce a Sicilian dessert, but the nun from the Santa Rosa monastery added ricotta, mixed with dried fruits. Nowadays, every terrace in Naples sells delicious sfogliatella like the one in the picture.
Sfogliatella ricca is the most common version. It consists of a crispy puff pastry filled with aromatic ricotta cream.
They can be found everywhere in Naples, and the price for a single piece is 2.5-3 euros.
Cuoppo
Along with pizza fritta, cuoppo is a very popular street food dish in Naples. O’Cuopp, in Neapolitan dialect, is the name for a paper cone filled with deep-fried dishes. At the most famous stand in Naples, which is called Il Cuoppo of course, you can buy a cone with different ingredients for 4-5 euros.
In addition to the classics – mozzarella, fries and chicken, you can try an anchovy cone – with sardines, arancini or zucchini flowers.
In the last five years we have traveled a lot around Italy, and in every place we have been, we have tried the local cuisine. And the truth is that we are not crazy about Italian food…or at least we were not.
In the meantime, Naples has changed our perspectives a bit.
As I like to say: Naples is a paradise for gourmets, it is the place where you find the real Italian cuisine. Of course, there are many other delicious dishes in the Neapolitan cuisine, which I hope we will be able to discover on our next escapade in Naples.
Have you been to Naples? Where did you eat the best Neapolitan pizza? What other dishes have you tried?