Naples invented the pizza margherita in 1889, when pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito topped dough with tomato, mozzarella and basil at Pizzeria Brandi to flatter visiting Queen Margherita — red, white and green, like the Italian flag. The pizzeria still trades today, and the city remains the place where any serious pizza maker gets measured.
One useful trick for first-timers: look for the VPN sign (Verace Pizza Napoletana) outside a pizzeria. It certifies the pizza is made to strict traditional criteria. Standards across central Naples are generally high because locals simply won't tolerate a mediocre slice — a neighbourhood pizzeria is as routine as a trip to the pub.
That said, not every place is equal, and a few stand out after decades of field research. Da Michele on Via Cesare Sersale keeps things brutally simple: four pizzas, marble tables, a wood-fired oven, and prices from about €6.50 plus a €1 cover charge. It's a production line, but an essential one. In the Rione Sanità, Concettina ai Tre Santi — opened in 1951 by Ciro Oliva's great-grandmother — draws queues for light, puffy crusts with top regional ingredients; grab the back terrace and order fried antipasti with a bottle of local fizz.
Da Attilio alla Pignasecca, a family spot near the Pignasecca market since 1938, offers some 40 pizzas, including star-shaped pies with a ricotta-stuffed crust, and an Attilio that gives you nine slices, each a different topping. Over in Mergellina, award-winning Ciro Salvo's 50 Kalò is famous for a lighter, crispier, highly digestible dough with a high water-to-flour ratio — try artichoke and capocollo, or a veggie take on spaghetti alla Nerano. You can't book the original, but the second branch in Piazza della Repubblica takes reservations.
For something different, Isabella de Cham in the Sanità is a rare pizzeria run by an all-female team, specialising in pizza fritta — deep-fried dough balloons stuffed with pork rind, ricotta and pepper, or a version with rocket and two cheeses brightened with lemon zest. Finish with the Millefritta, layers of fried dough with whipped ricotta, hazelnuts and Vesuvius apricot jam. Starita, open since 1901 in Materdei, seats about 100 people around its famous red oven and is the birthplace of the Montanara, a mini-pizza that's fried then baked, invented there in the 1980s.
Finally, Enzo Coccia — the first pizzaiolo to earn Michelin recognition — runs three venues on one street in Vomero. La Notizia 53 does the classics; the smarter number 94 goes gourmet with pies like the 4 Bufale, four kinds of buffalo cheese on one pizza, paired with Campanian wines such as a Fiano from Paestum.
Why it matters: you could eat well in Naples by wandering into any storefront, but this shortlist covers both the old-guard institutions and the new-wave pizzaioli experimenting with longer fermentation and better-sourced ingredients. Expect queues at the popular spots, cheap bills almost everywhere, and no bookings at some addresses — go at off-peak hours or be ready to wait with a beer.
