Among the many legends about pizza in Naples, the most famous and widespread – even though widely confirmed as inaccurate – is the one about the birth of the margherita pizza. Time and time again the story has been repeated, according to which this most beloved pizza was born in the summer of 1889, baked at the Capodimonte royal palace. Made by the cook and pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito of Brandi Pizzeria, the pizza was intended as an homage to Queen Margherita di Savoia, wife of the first king of Italy (as a united nation) Umberto I, and to the country’s three-colored flag.
The green of the basil leaves, the white of mozzarella cheese and the red of the tomato made a great combination of colors and taste, for sure, and – even though these ingredients had already been used to season the baked dough sold throughout the city’s alleys – succeeded in becoming a symbol of Italy and Italian food all over the world. Yet, supposedly, the tale has more to do with propaganda to have Southern Italians accept the imposed, north-based monarchy than anything else.
As it always happens, though, the anecdote does contain a grain of truth.
The royal Capodimonte mansion, which currently hosts one of the city’s leading museums displaying a stunning collection of paintings, pottery and furniture, was (and still is) surrounded by a vast and verdant park; originally a hunting ground, about twenty smaller buildings and annexes were built throughout the years to serve the various Bourbon sovereigns. Charles I and his nephew Francis I – deeply passionate about botany and agriculture – intended the park to be an experimental garden and a functional plot, bearing fruits and vegetables for the mansion’s kitchens. Thus, they created greenhouses, orchards and nurseries, such as the Casamento Torre, a large farm at the northeast edges of the park, where the court gardeners used to work and live. Here, next to the smaller building surrounded by citrus groves, apple and pear trees, blooming camellias, and a giant camphor tree, a wood oven has been burning since at least 1840.
Used to bake bread and cook meat and other food, it may have been the same one where a pizza man – not Esposito, but one Domenico Testa, who worked in place along the road leading to Capodimonte, as the Neapolitan poet and playwright Salvatore Di Giacomo narrated – was called to bake some pizzas for Queen Maria Theresa of Austria and her ladies-in-waiting, who were eager to taste the cheap, humble food that kept the people of Naples happy and satisfied. Or maybe it was for her mother-in-law, María Isabella of Spain, the widow of King Francis I, who resided here after his death?
Giovanni Serritelli, a food historian and cook with a deep knowledge of the inner workings of the city’s culinary heritage, is the one who enlightens us about the true story behind the margherita and the Capodimonte pizza, as we stare at the built-in oven in the courtyard of Casamento Torre (currently used for events and demonstrations).
Long neglected, the farm was recently brought back to life after a long and careful renovation – which also included the gardens, orchards, and the half-buried greenhouses used by clever gardeners to grow exotic pineapples at the King’s request – thanks to Delizie Reali, a local company that won the call for bids to manage some of the annexes. These include the nineteenth-century flower greenhouse now hosting the lovely tea house La Stufa dei Fiori and the farm, where they opened the Giardino Torre bistro and pizzeria.
The twenty-minute walk through tree-lined boulevards, with fountains and hedges almost hiding the signs to reach the place, is fully rewarded by the charm of the dining room. Here, a wood fire burns in winter, to be enjoyed from one of the tables and sofas set in the idyllic courtyard decorated by trees and flowers. There’s also the “social table” overlooking the inner oven where Salvatore de Rinaldi – an experienced and renowned Neapolitan pizzaiolo – or his son Cristiano knead and bake pies for weekend lunches. (More opening days and times are expected for the warmer months.)
Both the bistro and the pizza menu have been created – and are constantly updated, according to season and what grows in the orchard – with Serritelli’s precious contribution based on his research on Neapolitan cookbooks, plumbing the local culinary heritage from the 18th and 19th centuries. This is probably the only place in town where it’s possible to taste prosciutto allo schidione, a roasted ham marinated in wine and spices served with misticanza, a mixed wild leaves salad. The iconic sartù – an opulent rice timbale created by monzù, the court cooks who brought French and Neapolitan cooking traditions together back in the 1700s – usually made with ragù sauce, meatballs, peas, and eggs, here is prepared in different ways, such as with squash, sausage and provola, or with a lean beef broth enriched by lard, mushrooms and minced pork meat. Maccheroncini alla Ferdinando II – stuffed baked pasta with ragù – has a more recent history, having been created at the beginning of the 20th century at Transatlantico restaurant, nestled in the Borgo Marinari right under the magnificent Castel dell’Ovo, as an homage to the bon vivant King. Among the dessert options, the intense chocolate gateau served with cinnamon cream is based on the recipe reported in the “Intellectual Cook” Vincenzo Corrado’s book on daily meals, published in 1832.
Pizzas, of course, play an important role, and aside from marinara and margherita, Serritelli and De Rinaldi offer a few other exciting interpretations mixing present and past: mastunicola (probably the most ancient Neapolitan pizza, created before tomato hailing from Latin America became widely accepted here) has its dough seasoned with lard, Pecorino and Parmigiano cheese, black pepper and a basil cream instead of the original fresh leaves. Margherita Giardino Torre revises the old-time classic using heirloom tomatoes grown on the Vesuvius slopes, fior di latte cheese from Sorrento, Parmigiano Reggiano, and fresh basil; while the Antica ricetta del Re – “the King’s ancient recipe” – has an intense, reduced sauce made of slowly cooked tomatoes, lard and spices, inspired by Ippolito Cavalcanti’s recipe book from 1847, along the redolent smoked scamorza cheese – a true royal mouthful, one worth the visit.
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