The history of food items which may have served as the roots of modern pizza can be traced to the ancient Greek colony of Naples in Magna Graecia (southern Italy)^** . Such products arguably have their first written mention in Book VII of Virgil’s Aeneid:

Their homely fare dispatch’d, the hungry band

Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour,

To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour.

Ascanius this observ’d, and smiling said:

“See, we devour the plates on which we fed.”

In the 3rd century BC, the first history of Rome, written by Marcus Porcius Cato, mentions a “flat round of dough dressed with olive oil, herbs, and honey baked on stones”; placenta was a “sheet of fine flour topped with cheese and honey and flavored with bay leaves”American Pie, an April/May 2006 article from American Heritage. Further evidence is found in Pompeii, the city “frozen in time” since AD 79, where archaeologists have excavated shops that closely resemble modern pizzerie.

Though several kinds of flat bread made with flour, often cooked with oil and spices, were familiar to ancient Romans and popular in all the Mediterranean area, they were considerably different from pizza as it is known today. The tomato was still unknown in Europe and the Indian water buffalo, whose milk is used to make the real mozzarella cheese, had not yet been imported to Campania, the area around Napoli. The crust of pizza is very similar to focaccia bread common in Italian cuisine today.

For some time after the tomato was brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, it was believed by many Europeans to be poisonous (as are some other fruits of the nightshade family). By the late 18th century, however, it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and the dish gained in popularity. Pizza became a tourist attraction, and visitors to Naples ventured into the poorer areas of the city to try the local specialty.

Until about 1830, pizza was sold from open-air stands and street vendors out of pizza bakeries. The world’s first true pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba, opened in Naples in that period.

Pizza in the United States of America

An Italian immigrant to the U.S.A. named Gennaro Lombardi (who immigrated in 1897) opened a small grocery store in New York City’s Little Italy. An employee of his, Antonio Totonno Pero (also an Italian immigrant) began making pizza for the store to sell. Their pizza became so popular that Lombardi opened the first U.S. pizzeria in 1905 naming it simply “Lombardi’s”. The price for an entire pizza was five cents, but since many people couldn’t afford the cost of a whole pie, they could instead say how much they could pay and they were given a slice corresponding to the amount offered.

In 1924, Totonno left Lombardi’s to open his own pizzeria on Coney Island called Totonno’s. From there more Italians began to open their own shops.

The international breakthrough came after World War II. Allied troops occupying Italy, weary of their rations, were constantly on the lookout for good food. They discovered the pizzeria, and local bakers were hard pressed to satisfy the demand from the soldiers. The American troops involved in the Italian campaign took their appreciation for the dish back home, touted by “veterans ranging from the lowliest private to Dwight D. Eisenhower”.

With its rising popularity, pizza became a component of the growing Restaurant chain. Other leading early pizza chains were Shakey’s Pizza and Pizza Hut, both founded in 1954, in Sacramento, California and Wichita, Kansas, respectively.

Later entrants to the dine-in pizza market were Bertucci’s, Happy Joe’s, California Pizza Kitchen, Godfather’s Pizza, and Round Table Pizza.

Today, the American pizza business is dominated by companies that specialize in pizza delivery. Besides Domino’s, this includes Little Caesar’s, Papa John’s Pizza and Godfather’s Pizza. Pizza Hut has also shifted its emphasis away from pizza parlors and toward home delivery.

One other popular business model for pizza retailers is the take and bake pizzeria. These restaurants sell uncooked pizzas, typically made fresh to order, to consumers who then take the pizza home and bake them in their own ovens. Such businesses typically operate either as standalone entities (such as the Papa Murphy’s chain, the largest such chain in the U.S.), or as part of delicatessens.

Pizza