How to judge a real Neapolitan pizza
This isn't for the people making the pizza — it's for the people eating it. Use this guide and the tasting form to score any pizza against the traditions and rules of Pizza Napoletana.
A short history
Pizza as we know it was born in Naples in the 18th and 19th centuries, when flatbreads topped with tomato, cheese, and oil became the everyday food of the city's working class. The Margherita — tomato, mozzarella, basil, echoing the colors of the Italian flag — is said to have been made for Queen Margherita of Savoy in 1889. The style stuck: a soft, blistered, wood-fired disc of dough, meant to be eaten hot, by hand, folded.
In 2010 the EU recognized Pizza Napoletana as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) product — a formal specification of what makes one authentic. That's the standard this site orients itself around.
The rules, in short
- 01Baked in a wood-fired oven, floor temperature around 485°C, for just 60–90 seconds.
- 02No wider than 35cm, with a thin center (about 4mm) and a distinctly raised rim (1–2cm) — the cornicione.
- 03Dough made from soft wheat flour, water, salt, and brewer's yeast — rested, then fermented for several hours. No sourdough, no shortcuts.
- 04Topped with peeled or fresh tomatoes, sea salt, extra virgin olive oil, and — depending on the pizza — buffalo mozzarella PDO or fior di latte, basil, oregano, garlic.
- 05The result should be soft and pliable enough to fold, never crisp or cracker-like all the way through.
Read the full EU regulation (2010) →
The fold test
The classic way to check a Neapolitan pizza is soft enough: fold a slice in half, then in half again — a libretto, "like a little book." It should bend without cracking or tearing. If it snaps like a cracker, it isn't Neapolitan in spirit, however good it tastes.
How the tasting works
Give your name, pick the pizza you're eating from the list (or add it, if it's not there yet), and score six categories from 0 to 5 — dimensions, structure, bake, fermentation, ingredients, and your overall impression. It takes about a minute per pizza. Do it while it's still hot.
Start tasting →