Pizza, dish of Italian origin consisting of a flattened disk of bread dough topped with some combination of olive oil, oregano, tomato, olives, mozzarella or other cheese, and many other ingredients, baked quickly—usually, in a commercial setting, using a wood-fired oven heated to a very high temperature—and served hot.
One of the simplest and most traditional pizzas is the Margherita, which is topped with tomatoes or tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil. Popular legend relates that it was named for Queen Margherita, wife of Umberto I, who was said to have liked its mild fresh flavour and to have also noted that its topping colours—green, white, and red—were those of the Italian flag.
Italy has many variations of pizza. The Neapolitan pizza, or Naples-style pizza, is made specifically with buffalo mozzarella (produced from the milk of Italian Mediterranean buffalo) or fior di latte (mozzarella produced from the milk of prized Agerolese cows) and with San Marzano tomatoes or pomodorino vesuviano (a variety of grape tomato grown in Naples). Roman pizza often omits tomatoes (an early 16th-century import) and uses onions and olives. The Ligurian pizza resembles the pissaladière of Provence in France, adding anchovies to olives and onions. Pizza has also spread from Italy throughout much of the rest of the world, and, in regions outside of Italy, the toppings used vary with the ingredients available and the flavour profile preferred.
The popularity of pizza in the United States began with the Italian community in New York City, where the Neapolitan pizza had an early influence. The first pizzeria appeared in New York City about the turn of the 20th century. After World War II the pizza industry boomed. Soon there was scarcely a hamlet without a pizzeria. Sausage, bacon, ground beef, pepperoni, mushrooms, and peppers are traditional toppings familiar to many Americans, but ingredients as varied as arugula, pancetta, and truffles have found their way onto pizzas there. Variations are also often tied to different regions in the country, Chicago’s deep-dish pizza and California-style pizza among them. -britannica.com
TasteAtlas revealed a list with the Most popular, Best rated, Alphabetically and By Location, Pizzas of the World! On the top of the tops, lies Pizza Napoletana. All the popular and pest rated pizzas, come from Italy and some, from USA. Take a look at the list below:
Pizza Napoletana – (Neapolitan Pizza)
Italy’s most emblematic culinary creation, the genuine pizza Napoletana is made with just a few simple ingredients and prepared in only two variations – marinara, the basic Neapolitan pizza topped with a tomato-based sauce flavored with garlic and oregano, and margherita, which is topped with tomatoes, mozzarella, and fresh basil leaves, a delicious combination whose colors are said to represent the Italian flag.
The crust is very thin at the base, and the dough puffs up on the sides, which results in airy crust that should have typical charred ‘leopard spots’ if baked properly. The origins of this iconic Neapolitan dish can be traced to the early 1700s, when what we know today as pizza marinara was first described by Italian chef, writer, and philosopher Vincenzo Corrado in his treatise on the eating habits of the people of Naples.
Almost 200 years later, in 1889, the premier Neapolitan master pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito added mozzarella to the mix and invented the margherita, which is now generally cited as the first modern pizza. Originally dubbed la pizza tricolore, Esposito’s creation is said to have been made in honor of and named after Margherita of Savoy, the Queen consort of the Kingdom of Italy, who was visiting Naples at the time.
In 2010, as one of Italy’s most popular foods worldwide, pizza Napoletana was officially recognized by the European Union and granted the designation of Traditional Specialty Guaranteed. And remember, a good pizza Napoletana doesn’t need any additions other than the designated toppings.
In Second place, comes Pizza Margherita – (Margherita)
Pizza Margherita is a delicacy that is literally fit for a queen. In 1889, Queen Margherita of Savoy visited Naples, where she was served a pizza that was made to resemble the colors of the Italian flag: red tomatoes, white mozzarella cheese, and green basil.
It was made by a chef named Raffaele Esposito of Pizzeria Brandi, who is credited for its invention. The Queen loved the dish, and Esposito named it after her – pizza Margherita, but such a pizza was also made before that time, and can be dated back to at least 1866, when the most popular pizza toppings included basil, cheese, and tomatoes, but the pizza was not yet named Margherita.
Since those times, Margherita has become one of the most popular pizza varieties in the world, and in 2009, it was protected as one of the three Pizze Napoletane with an STG European label of protection, proving its excellence in flavor, ingredients, and traditional pizza-making techniques.
