The benefit of the marathoners’ collective resolve became clearer with the passing of each pizza lap. The Chianti-fueled runners breezed through the outstanding 4th and 5th pizzas – a crostino salsiccia e broccoletti (white pizza with spicy sausage and broccoli rabe) and crostino salsiccia e porcini (white pizza with sweet sausage and fresh porcini mushrooms) without the slightest hint of shortness of breath. All but one made it to the finish line, heartily digging into the 8th and last pizza and praising it with great gusto, much to Leonelli’s satisfaction. He’d prepared the crostino bresaola e rucola (white pizza with air-dried beef and rocket) as a PizzaTuesday exclusive with an assist from his mamma back in Rome. She’d sent him the bresaola in an unmarked parcel.

In designing a marathon menu featuring various toppings and combinations I confess to an ulterior motive: I wished to demonstrate to participants the pure pleasure of a red pizza accessorized only with tomatoes – pizza rossa – or tomato and anchovies – pizza marinara. The base of a pizza al taglio, as the rectangular “by-the-cut” pizza is known in Rome and practised in London at Datte Foco,  is an ideal platform for a generous layer of plum tomatoes: It’s thicker and crispier than Neapolitan-style pizza and therefore doesn’t turn soggy or mushy under the weight of a red sauce.

The rossa and marinara together constituted the evening’s true taste breakthrough. Although the group loved the more elaborate toppings, a good third picked the elemental red pizzas as their favorite. Even those who preferred one of the other 7 pizzas regarded the rossa as something of a revelation. Most couldn’t recall ever trying or, for that matter, contemplating a pizza with tomatoes as its only topping. Yet it was just such a pizza, laid bare without the usual cover of mozzarella and sampled amongst a marathon of classic combinations, that proved to be the biggest and best surprise of all. The fullness of the sweet, zesty, unvarnished tomatoes in the mouth can be one of the great sensations in the pizza eating experience.

The next PizzaTuesday is 23 February at Pizza Metro Pizza. Book now.

The first Spianata & Co rolled out in 2004, so it is something of a stretch to term this Italian sandwich shop a discovery. Yet the thousands of City suits who walk by it every day, oblivious to its very existence, can make it seem like an esoteric find.

This pizza bianca is not the tomato-less “white pizza” featured at pizzerias but is instead the near-naked raft of classic flat bread from Rome. It’s one of the world’s great chews. Forget cheese: the only toppings are scant olive oil, salt and rosemary. Spianata’s version may not compare to Rome’s best –  Antico Forno Roscioli, Forno Campo de’ Fiori – but its golden, bronze-highlighted color looks right and its crisp-crusted air pockets and low density allow for chewy compression. My lone frustrations: that it’s baked with no rosemary to speak of and mostly in advance. If you want it warm, as you should, you usually have to ask for a reheat, which hardens the bread and doesn’t do it justice.

Spianata also prepares pizza rossa romana, which, as you’ve guessed, is painted with a coat of tomato sauce. It’s thinner and crisper than the bianca and altogether fabulous. Incredibly it’s only £1.60 cold, £1.85 reheated (due to VAT). I’ve otherwise tried and liked 3 toasted sandwiches assembled with pizza bianca, including the delightful Nutella breakfast panino, but won’t explore any further. From now on it’s either the bianca or the rossa for me. If I want a sandwich I’ll get 2 rossi and stick them together.

Spianiata has good espresso and cappuccino prepared with illy’s arabica blend. The illy red sign is hardly a reliable indicator of quality preparation, but here they have Italians who care about coffee on both sides of the counter and the results are positive. Spianiata didn’t make my list of top 10 coffee shops in London, nor did it qualify for my top 10 London pizzerias (which rated only Margheritas). Still, when stuck within the walls of London’s Square Mile, why not follow the Roman way?

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73A Watling Street, London EC4
41 Brushfield Street, London E1
20 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1
12 Moorfields, London EC2
29/30 Leadenhall Market, London EC3