Well surfer,

It looks like a trend; Italy, France, Costco.

Gianni,

funny how you haven't come accross the hot pepper oil on pizza...Just last week I witnessed two of my Italian friends smothering their pizzas with this oil that they called olio piccante. This was not far from Milano, either.

What's funny is how many people claim to have definitive answers. Someone indicated that you DON'T get Parmesan on pizzas in Italy. When we got our pizzas two days ago in Naples (and isn't that supposed to be the HOME of pizza?) we were sitting right by the oven in a very local pizza place. As almost every pizza came out of the oven, the "assistant" hand grated hard cheese on each one. And that statment of horror about asking for the hot oil -- we encountered a pizza place in Sardinia where the hot oil was already on every table. The bottom line? Never say "never".

Hi, sorry to be late in answering to some questions...

Pizza: the "real" original pizza has tomato (fresh, without garlic), mozzarella (made with buffalo milk, oregano and basel that's it.
Then also in Italy you can put on it several toppings: anjuvis, ham, hot sausage, black olives, .....

It's true that in the South oh Italy (Calabria first) we use hot pepper in cooking (pasta, salami, ...) but usually not on pizza!

Ciao.
Gianni

I was shocked when I went out with my younger cousins in Calabria for pizza, and they ordered theirs with french fries. I was the one eating a more traditional pizza!