We Italians, like to fight and discuss pretty much anything: politics, football, traffic regulations, who has the best foods, the best beaches, the best organization, the best hospitality…

We do like comparing and complaining as Italy is a conglomerate of 20 VERY different regions, each of which is extremely proud of its history and traditions.

If there is ONE thing we can all agree about, though, from the northeast to the southeast part of the peninsula, from the mountains to the seas and the islands, it is that Italian Pizza is the best in the world (and at least 10 times better than American Pizza)!

In this article, we will see the 10 most classic Italian Pizzas, and I will reveal you the secrets that, in my humble opinion, make them so unbelievably tasty!

Let’s start with the Basics:

Quality Ingredients and Simplicity

In Italy we have a Serious Problem with Pizza,

we’re terminally-Addicted to it Since we are Born! 

Before diving right in, a few words from an Italian traveler: me!

I love Pizza, it’s probably my favorite dish, and I love any kind of Pizza (except Hawaii Pizza with pineapple, of course, that pizza has been created with the sole purpose of making Italians mad! *sarcastic*).

Since I was a child, I’ve been eating pizza every single week, and for some parts of my life even every single day!

Pizza in Italy is so available as it’s rice in Asia or burgers in the US,

there are more pizzerias than churches! 

While at first it might not sound so incredible, consider that in Italy we have more than 100.000 churches, and according to the last 2022 gourmet census, over 120.000 pizzerias: that’s INSANE!

With such insane numbers, of course, variety is incredible: different doughs, different shapes, different combinations of ingredients, different cooking techniques, ovens… etc.

I could write a degree essay on Italian pizza and still, I would not be able to completely express the richness and complexity of the Pizza culture in Italy: it’s just something that we absorb since we are children – how to walk, how to talk, what a good pizza tastes like!

To make the long story short, I will just say to you that all of it could be narrowed down to two key secrets.

The two secrets of why Italian Pizza is so good are two:

the quality of the ingredients and the recipes’ simplicity.

On one side, Italy is an incredible place to locally source high-quality and varied products: our peninsula produces 583 DOP products (originally controlled and certified products), and counts 266 “IGP” protected geographical areas.

Due to the morphology of the country, the variety of the Italian agricultural landscape and dairy production (487 different kinds of cheese!) is unmatched, and due to historical reasons, the quality standards and the social pressure for responsible production techniques are extremely high!

All of this ensures that pizzas are made with top-quality products, no matter in which region of Italy you are.

In addition to top-quality ingredients, the second thing that makes Italian pizza so much better than American in my humble Italian opinion is simplicity.

To make a great pizza in Italy, we just don’t stuff everything possible on it!

Instead, the Italian pizza culture tries to find a harmonious balance among the ingredients, to make their quality shine, and to avoid their taste to cover one another.

If you’ll ever come to Italy, make sure to try a traditional pizza making class in Rome (or anywhere else), to literally deepdive your hands into the tiniest secrets behind the classic Italian Pizza making process!

For now let’s dive right in, to see the 10 most Classic Italian Pizzas, and by the end, you will understand exactly what I mean by harmonious balance and simplicity! 🙂

1. Pizza Marinara:

the “Sailor’s Pizza” that always opens every Italian Menu! 

When you open an Italian menu, Marinara will always be the Pizza at the top of the page, as it is the simplest and cheapest pizza you can order anywhere in Italy.

The recipe is so simple it’s crazy: tomato sauce, extra virgin olive oil, oregano, garlic, and a basil leaf on top.

It’s a vegan pizza (as there is no cheese here!) without complexity: light, simple, cheap, and damn tasty too!

The origin of this pizza dates back to the ‘700, as Italian sailors used to often prepare this pizza as the ingredients were easy to source and had long expiration periods.

2. Pizza Margherita:

the undisputed Queen of Italian Pizzas, named after a Queen!

The most classic Italian pizza of all, the pride of Naples, and one of the most iconic milestones of Italian food culture: the pizza Margherita needs no presentations!

Made with three simple ingredients that resemble the colors of the Italian flag (Tomato – Red, Mozzarella – white, Basil – Green), this pizza was presented for the first time in 1889 by the chef Raffaele Esposito to the Queen Margherita of Savoy.

The queen is said to have greatly enjoyed this pizza, and so it has been named after her ever since!

The Margherita is the pizza that appears on the Italians menu in 2nd place, always after the Marinara, and it’s the most beloved one by adults and especially children.

3. Pizza Pioggia:

literally “Pizza rain”, due to the Mozzarella Downpour!

Can a Margherita get even better?

If you’re a fan of melted Mozzarella (like me), the answer is an absolute YES!

The “pizza Pioggia” (in English “Rain Pizza”), follows the exact recipe of Margherita, but with a twist: tomato is the same, basil is the same, but mozzarella gets doubled!

The result is an extremely filamentous pizza, where you need to lift every slice at least half a meter to allow the mozzarella to detach from the plate.

This is another classic Italian pizza that joins simplicity with taste!

Side note: This pizza is not recommended for small children as the excessive amount of Mozzarella might be difficult to swallow, with the danger of suffocation.

4. Pizza Quattro Formaggi:

a “4-Cheese Pizza”, with true Italian DOP Cheese!

I love cheese, and this is my favorite pizza!

The “Quattro Formaggi” in English translated to “Four Cheese”, but believe me, the one you eat in Italy (or in authentically Italian restaurants too!) has nothing to do with the ones you normally find abroad.

Here there is no tomato: it’s a white pizza!

The four kinds of cheese, are normally 4 Italian DOP kinds of cheese, of different densities and tastes: mozzarella (the soft and filamentous cheese ever-present in Italian pizzas, could also be Mozzarella di Bufala), gorgonzola (the blue Italian cheese, which can have sweeter of spicier notes),  parmigiano reggiano (an aged and pungent Italian cheese, copied by parmesan but by no mean parmesan!) and fontina (a softer and younger cheese).

Of course, there are variants, where a few of these cheeses are substituted with other top-quality cheeses (such “as stracchino”, “taleggio” etc.) but in general, the overall recipe remains the same: Mozzarella, aged cheese, blue-cheese, and soft cheese.

No cheddar, which in Italy is not considered cheese – but “plastic cheese” 😉

5. Pizza Diavola:

the classic “Devil Pizza”, where Spiciness meets Simplicity

This is my dad’s favorite pizza (and I don’t have memories of seeing him eating any other pizza since I was born!).

Tomato, Mozzarella, spicy salami (“salamino piccante” in Italian). 

That’s it. Simple, tasty.

Abroad, the Diavola is always called “Pepperoni Pizza”, which for us Italians sounds pretty hilarious as “pepperoni” in Italian are simple peppers, which funnily are not on this pizza.

Different from the American Pepperoni, the diabolo is not entirely covered by salami, because the idea behind this pizza is to taste the quality mozzarella and the crunchy though without being overwhelmed by spiciness, but simply accompanied by it.

6.  Pizza Capricciosa:

the “Capricious Pizza”, for those needing a special treat!

The pizza Capricciosa was born in 1937 in the homonymous restaurant in Rome as a “fridge-emptier” pizza.

As the story goes, the chef came to prepare this pizza as he had finished most ingredients in his kitchen, and so tried to add what he had left in the fridge to surprise its clients, finding great success.

The original recipe of the Capricciosa contains tomato, mozzarella, baked ham, mushrooms, olive, and artichokes; but there’s a twist!

Capricciosa’s recipe might change from restaurant to restaurant as every chef can insert its “capriccio” (“tantrum”): olives, cured ham, and boletus mushrooms are the most common!

7. Pizza Quattro Stagioni:

the classic “4-seasons”, where every slice is a season of the year!

The “Quattro Stagioni” is perhaps the most “full” of all classic Italian pizzas.

Said that there’s still logic in its recipe: 4 quarters, where every quarter represents a different season.

Mushrooms represent the autumn (as they are gathered between September – and October in the Alps and Apennines mountains), olives represent winter (they are gathered in December-January in Southern Italian regions), artichokes represent the spring (gathered from March to May), and basil represents the summer (although often is substituted by meat cuts such spicy salami or sausage).

This pizza is ideal for those people who feel they can never choose just ONE pizza, or for sharing with friends, as it offers a slice for all tastes 🙂

8. Pizza Frutti di Mare:

“Seafood Pizza”, an Ode to the Italian Maritime Tradition

Italy has over 8.300km of coastlines and seafood is an integral part of Italian cuisine and tradition.

Because of that, a seafood-based pizza is a must, and that’s the “Frutti di Mare”.

The Frutti di Mare is never made with fish (not even Tuna!), but just seafood (such as calamari, shrimps, mussels, cuttlefish, and clams) added to a Marinara base (tomato sauce, basil, oregano and garlic).

In the Frutti di Mare, there is no mozzarella (as that’s not coming from the sea! eh eh), although it’s borderline/accepted to ask for it if it fits your taste (remember, Italian Pizza is simplicity, it’s about achieving more taste, with less! 😉 )

The waiter probably would frown upon you, but still doable.

9. Pizza Boscaiola:

the “Woodsman’s Pizza”, an Ode to the Italian Mountain Chains

Italy has sea, but also great mountains: the Dolomites, the Northern Alps, the Apennines… all together they span over 2500km in length!

So, it’s just natural (for Italians at least!), to tribute their mountains the same way as they tribute their coasts: with a pizza of course! 😀

The Pizza Boscaiola (literally the “Woodsman’s Pizza”), is a classic Italian pizza inspired by the ingredients sourced in the Italian mountains and forests: mozzarella, awesome tasting Boletus mushrooms (sometimes also champignons), parsley, garlic, and traditional pork or boar sausages.

The mix of ingredients is easy, yet delicious!

10. Pizza Calzone:

literally “big sock pizza”, it’s a Vulcano of Taste ready to Explode!

Born in the XIX century around Naples, the Calzone is a folded Pizza containing melting mozzarella, parmigiano, meat cuts, and tomato sauce.

During the cooking, the Calzone inflates due to the air within the pizza warming up and it takes the shape of a tiny Vulcano (probably it has been inspired by the Vesuvio volcano near Naples).

Before eating it, I recommend you break its crust with a fork: it’s such an experience seeing the steam coming out of your pizza – and without breaking it would be also too hot and impossible to eat!

Here again, the ingredients are not many, but with the right quality ingredients and the right cooking time, the result is an incredibly healthy, balanced, and spectacular yummy pizza.

Modern versions of calzone are the “Calzone Quattro Formaggi – 4 kinds of cheese”, the “Calzone Pioggia”, and the black Calzone with Pistachio cream and chocolate (sweet).

While not common, it’s possible to ask pizzerias in Italy for any kind of pizza to become a Calzone 🙂

Conclusion

And here we come at the end of this yummy article!

In this article, I showed you the most common 10 classic Italian pizzas.

These pizzas are the ones you can expect to find in pretty much every pizzeria in Italy (while most of the others might change according to location, pizzeria, region, types of dough, etc.).

As you can see, the recipes are pretty simple.

Hardly ever Italian pizzas have more than 4-5 ingredients as every pizza here tries to narrate a story stemming from tradition and to exalt the tastes and quality of the locally sourced ingredients.

When comparing Italian pizza to American pizza, two are the main differences which to me make all the difference: the simplicity (Italian pizza is not over-loaded with stuff), and the quality of ingredients (I’m sorry American friends, but you need to come to Italy to check what true tomatoes or mozzarella taste like! eh eh).

Of course, this is my humble opinion, and in the end, pizza is pizza, food is food, and tastes are tastes! 🙂

So before concluding the article, I would like to ask you:

• What do you think of Italian pizza?
• Do you prefer Italian Pizza or American pizza? Why is that?
• Which is your favorite Pizza?

Let us know in the comments below and feel free to express your opinion, even if opposite to mine! 😀

Hereafter I will leave you a few articles that you might be also interested in checking out:

• 15 Interesting Facts about Rome you didn’t Know!
• Travel Italy: Discover the most Beautiful Destinations in Italy and How to Visit them!

Thank you for reading,

And see you in the next article!