Category: diversity

The Origin of Pizza: An Intriguing Exploration

I am so shocked! I am reading a very interesting book titled “L’italiano è bello” (Italian is Nice) by Mariangela Galatea Vaglio. Throughout the book, which explains a lot about Italian history, culture, and of course language, I came across this passage:

“La pizza, per esempio, molto probabilmente è un lascito dei Longobardi. L’etimologia è incerta e anche i linguisti non si sentono sicuri, ma potrebbe aver avuto origine da bizzo/a, pezzo di pane, morso (tedesco bissen). La parola, che indicava allora una focaccia bianca, si diffonde a partire dai domini longobardi del Sud, anche se è solo nell’Ottocento, con l’invenzione della pizza margherita, così chiamata per omaggiare la regina Margherita di Savoia consorte di Umberto I, che la pizza diverrà famosa e mangiata in tutto il mondo. Non si può escludere insomma che nel gran caos del Medioevo dei barbari tedeschi abbiano inventato il più mediterraneo dei nostri piatti.”

Translation (as I didn’t find the original English one, I propose mine):

“For example, it is very probable that pizza is a bequest from the Lombards. The etymology is uncertain, and even linguists are unsure about it, but it could have originated from bizzo/a, meaning a piece of bread or bite (German: bissen). The word, which initially referred to a white focaccia, spread from the Lombardic domains in the South. However, it was only in the 19th century, with the invention of the pizza margherita, named in honor of Queen Margherita of Savoy, the wife of Umberto I, that pizza became famous and eaten worldwide. In short, we cannot exclude the possibility that in the chaos of the Middle Ages, the Germanic barbarians invented the most Mediterranean of our dishes.”

I would like to highlight the phrases “it is very probable” and “the linguists are unsure about it” to emphasize that there is uncertainty regarding this claim. I mean, I hope it is not true! But I tried to search for the real origin of pizza, and here’s what I found:

On the Wonderopolis page, they discuss the ancient Greeks and Romans and mention an Italian man from Naples who baked the first pizza. Please check: Wonderopolis – Who Invented Pizza

On the Pizzafacts page, they talk about several early users of pizza around the 1st century BC. They also mention 3000-year-old flattened breads in Sicily and the Roman Empire, especially in the areas of Naples and Pompeii, where they baked white focaccia. However, no specific inventors are named. Please check: Pizzafacts – History of Pizza

The page on independent.co.uk discusses the origins of pizza from Lazio in 997 AD, where 12 pizzas were baked for Christmas Eve. Please check: Independent – Pizza Origins

And there are many more links that more or less say the same.

So, who is right? Which source is true? What I think is that Italians appropriated the origins of pizza at the right moment, and this amazing dish spread worldwide. Was that simply luck? What do you think? Or, from the very early years of the Roman Empire, could we have invented such flatbread, even though we know that in Spain (Valencia, Balearic Isles) they have Coca or in Greece, Pita, and so on? And if Mariangela is right, is pizza Lombardic?