To fully appreciate the art and science of pizza in its historic epizzentre you have to explore its surface textures, features and forms.
 

 
THE PIZZA OF NAPLES IN TWO MINUTES, my video compression of the September 25th pizza crawl, traces the topography of Neapolitan pizza, from the stretching of the dough in the practiced hands of the pizzaiolo to his rotating of the crust as it puffs and browns under the torrents of intense heat in the wood-fired brick oven to his unveiling of the finished Margherita, its surface glistening with deposits of molten mozzarella and plum tomato sauce.

The eight pizzerias featured in the video are:

(in order of appearance)

Di Matteo
Pepe in Grani
Trianon da Ciro
Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba
L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele
Europea di Mattozzi
Gino Sorbillo
Regina Margherita

Before Crossrail construction extinguished its brick oven and closed it for business, Spaccanapoli, off Oxford Street, was the most famous London pizzeria. In Naples. It seemed that half the clientele was visiting the UK from Southern Italy. Many had heard that Peppe, its head pizzaiolo, had worked back home at Trianon and had established the house style for his colleagues and successors at Spaccanapoli. Peppe tutored both Paolo and Nicola, two pizzaioli who moved to sister restaurant Santoré and brought their incredibly light touch with them after Spaccanapoli was forced to close.

Santoré’s baked pizzas, with their puffy cornicione, are weightless – in the very best sense of the word. Owner Mimo (no one calls him Dominico) Savarese wouldn’t have it any other way.

That the Spaccanapoli spirit lives on in Clerkenwell should be reason enough to come celebrate on the 23rd of March. But Mimo promises to make this #PizzaTuesday extra special by featuring the signature rotolo rustica – rolled pizza filled with three cheeses and aubergine – on top of a tasting of 4 pizza varieties, including a truly classic Margherita. Other surprise additions to the menu are planned.

Everyone will have the opportunity to visit the pizza kitchen, feel the heat of the oven, meet Paolo or Nicola and maybe investigate if the Trianon connection is true. But in the end that shouldn’t matter when the pizza and pizzeria, though located at London’s Exmouth Market, are so very close to Naples.

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