The history of Pizza began simply as a garnished flat bread called “Schiacciata” in Southern Italy in the 16th century. By the 18th century, it was being sold as “Pizza” by street sellers to the poor of Naples, becoming more like the modern version with the discovery of tomatoes.
But it’s popularity soon grew, so the story goes, when Queen Margherita was accompanying her Husband, Umberto I of Savoia on an inspection of his Italian Kingdom in 1889, and developed a taste for the peasants “pizza” which she would eat every time she went out of her palace.
One day in June 1889, Pizza maker, Raffaele Esposito, was summoned from his pizzeria in Naples to the palace to bake a selection of Pizzas for the queen.
In honour of the occasion he baked a special pizza with tomato, Mozzarella, cheese and basil (the colours of the Italian flag - red/white/green), which he then named after her and the Pizza Margherita was born.
