The Pizza Pilgrimage

On the trail of your favorite comfort food

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a pizza lover. While my mom was a strict brown-bag, bring-your-own-lunch to school parent, on the rare Friday, she’d break the rules and give me $1.25 for the coveted school lunch special: pizza. That rectangle square with its questionable red sauce had probably been sitting in a freezer for decades, but for me, it was delicious and thus began my love for pizza.

It's been more than a few decades since Pizza Fridays, and lucky for me, I’ve had the privilege of indulging in some of the best pizza that this world has to offer. Even luckier is that I live in Rome which means I am only an hour’s train ride away from the birthplace of pizza – Napoli and the surrounding Campania region.

What is so special about pizza napoletana, you might be asking? It’s the fresh ingredients, the dough and the traditional, all in a bite so delectable that not only did UNESCO rank pizza napoletana on its list of intangible cultural heritage in 2017, but last year, I decided to celebrate my birthday with a pizza napoletana pilgrimage.

From Napoli to Caiazzo and Caserta, I indulged in the some of the world's most celebrated pizzerias. These pizzerie represent the pinnacle of pizza-making, and while each has its unique approach, they all share a deep respect for tradition coupled with a willingness to innovate. These pizzaioli demonstrate that even a dish as timeless as pizza can be a canvas for creativity, sustainability, and gastronomic excellence.