Is it true that pizza in Italy comes without cheese?
 

Someone told me this. Are they just pulling my leg?

depends whether or not it's a cheese pizza:)

Cheese or no cheese, you make the call.

Depends on what kind you order. The best pizza I ever tasted in Italy had not a shred of cheese on it. Only little grape tomatoes and basil, with a seasoning of salt. De-lish!!!!

On a pizza menu, each ingredient will be listed for each type of pizza. Some may not have cheese, so read carefully. Also, it will probably have less cheese than an American pizza.

...yes and there are many small places that sell pizza by weight. There may be 4-8 pizzas on the warming table. You can buy a piece of each and then they charge you according to weight. Great pizza.

And pizza (pizze, plural) can refer to a type of more or less ("just") bread - - rich with oil, and vaguely reminiscent of what is sometimes offered as bruschetta, in the United states.

It's all good.

Best wishes,

Rex

The pizza selection is vast. Some places do offer pizza with just sauce and no cheese, pizza with olive oil and roasted veg and some offer a pizza with rucola and freshly sliced parmegiano. The crusts are thin and airy not thick as cake nor stuffed. Try it all you won't be disappointed.

Hi,

I also discovered that, at least in the South, Italians eat pizza and French fries, sometimes pizza with fries on top.

We had pizza several times in Italy, and it always had cheese.Other toppings such as meats, artichokes, mushrooms, etc were usually available. I believe what we would consider a sauce & cheese pizza is called pizza margherita(?) in Italy.
Most trattorias server 'individual' sized pizzas.- Beware of the pizzas at eating establishments called 'snack bars', it's almost always frozen pizza.

reminds me of a programme I saw last week about the origins of pizza and how to make a good one. They showed a pizza "academy" in Naples where they demonstrated the way to make a perfect Neopolitan pizza (wood-fired ovens etc etc).

They then cut to a director of Domino Pizza Co. explaining how they've mastered the art of the perfect pizza, using gas-fired ovens, analysing the prcise toppings to bread ratio etc etc. He explained "Italy may have invented the pizza, but I think we've refined it beyond anything the italians would produce".

He was then asked:
"Have you ever eaten pizza in Italy?"
"No, but I'm sure ours are better".

Speaks for itself really. The real difference in Italy is the fresh, pure ingredients. Be adventurous, unlike Mr Domino, and try one without cheese just for the hell of it.

Darling, someone's pulling more than just your leg.

Kate, you've got to be kidding me! Thanks for the laugh. Do you remember Domino's old slogan, "We don't sell pizza, we sell delivery"? They said it!

I love the thin crispy crusted Italian pizzas with light toppings. Anymore the thick, stuffed with cheese American pizzas make me feel ill.

Believe it or not I had my first "Italian" pizza in an Italian restaurant in Paris and loved it (don't laugh, I had my first escargot in Santa Fe, NM). Learned later in Italy that it was indeed authentic. I too much prefer the thin crust and just a few toppings with or without cheese. It makes a great lunch with beer or a glass of wine. We have also had slices of pizza rather than the whole individual size that was pretty good.

Had to laugh at Kate's description of the program she saw. I personally hate Domino's pizza and "Mr. Domino" is either daft or in a dreamworld to even compare his product to Italian pizza, let alone claim it is superior.

Lex, hope you enjoy the pizza. It is different, unlike the American thinking that more is better, the fewer toppings and thin crust IMO make it much tastier.

NOw that I'm hungry, the best "pizza" I had was at Il Forno on Campo di Fiori, was heavenly thin dough with tomato and basil---MMMM, wish I had some now!

One delicious Italian pizza had thinly sliced potatoes and olive oil drizzled over. Lots of times you'll find pizza kiosks where you order by the slice and there will be several different varieties from which to choose--they hand it to you on a napkin or piece of butcher paper and off you go.

DH and I have a constant battle about Dominos.

He likes the pizza, I abhor Mr. Domino's politics. He is only allowed to order Dominos when I'm not home. :-)

The vision of french fries atop pizza is truly revolting, imo.

Koschka: If you're revolted by the vision of french fries on pizza, I can't imagein what you'd think of poutine--but that's a subject best left to the Canada board!

laverendrye,

I've sampled haggis, so I'm not a nervous eater. I guess I can just imagine the feeling of my arteries hardening as I nosh.

"Poutine is a French-Canadian concoction
comprised of french fries, gravy, and cheese curds."

Who knew?

From: http://www.yrth.net/insects/poutine.php

"Because everyone deserves to die of a heart attack before they hit forty, the Quebecois invented poutine. Poutine is the best thing to happen to the potato since just about....ever. Essentially, what you have is a dish made of fries slathered in gravy and cheese curds. Often times people substitute melted mozarella or similar cheeses instead of using actual curds. This usually works."

What, no velveeta?

Hi Giovanna
>Believe it or not I had my first "Italian" pizza in an Italian restaurant in Paris and loved it ..<

Until I had the pancetta and cippolini pizza at La Strada in Praiano, the best pizza I had ever eaten was in Paris.

The white pizzas in Italy are absolutely heaven - flaky, thin crusts, with a thin layer of several white cheeses, and we like ours topped with spinach. Nothin' finer!

Hi Ira: I'm glad there were two of us with such good culinary taste! We were in Paris for the first time and a little intimidated by the menus in French, so we walked up and down the street debating where to eat. We passed a TGI Fridays and I told my husband we would never live down eating there. About that time we spotted the Italian restaurant and decided we would be comfortable ordering there and that's how it all happened. :-d

What a silly conversation.... and what an idea. In the country where there are literally hundreds of cheeses, why would a pizza be without cheese? SUre, you can get all sorts of pizzas without cheese, if you want it, and if there are other delicious toppings on it.... but ask for a taglia anywhere in Italy and I'm going to bet that it has cheese on it...

--Jerry (Making great pizzas at home for over a decade)

Pizza al taglio (by the slice) comes with all the toppings that other pizzas come with, and some have cheese while others don't. One of my favorites has only oil and rosemary.

A taglia is a size, as in a clothing size, not a pizza.

French fries are common pizza toppings all over Italy. Other cheeseless pizzzas have artichokes, or fresh cherry tomatoes and arugula, or with baby shrimp, or grilled eggplant.

bvlenci: Good info . . . but just an FYI. the thread is 12 years old.

I know, and it was re-opened by someone who was just advertising his blog. But I thought he should be corrected. In any case, it looks as though someone reported him.

>>I also discovered that, at least in the South, Italians eat pizza and French fries, sometimes pizza with fries on top.<<

That abomination has spread to Italy. It's known there as "pizza Americano."

After my first trip to Italy, I made a mistake of asking for a pizza without cheese at an ordinary pizza restaurant in the U.S. They looked at me as if I were some kind of a freak. As far as they were concerned, a pizza always comes with cheese.

<<That abomination has spread to Italy. It's known there as "pizza Americano.">>

No, it would be pizza Ingleterra because there isn't a pizza place in the US of any half-decent repute that serves pizza with fries on it.

BigRuss, I've never heard of a single US pizza place with any kind of reputation, good or bad, that serves pizza with fries on top.