| Pizza marinara | |
| Alternate Name: | Italian: Pizza alla marinara |
| Country: | Italy |
| Region: | Naples |
| Type: | Pizza |
| Main Ingredient: | Tomato sauce, extra virgin olive oil, oregano, garlic |
| Serving Size: | 100 g |
| No Recipes: | false |
Pizza marinara, also known as Italian: pizza alla marinara, is a typical Neapolitan pizza seasoned with tomato sauce, extra virgin olive oil, oregano, and garlic. It is supposedly the oldest tomato-topped pizza.[1]
It has been claimed the pizza marinara was introduced around the year 1735 (in 1734 according to European Commission regulation 97/2010), and was prepared using olive oil, cherry tomatoes, basil, oregano, and garlic at that time,[2] and that historically it was known to be ordered commonly by poor sailors, and made on their ships due to it being made from easily preservable ingredients.[3] [4] The historical account of the pizza marinara's creation and its association with sailors rests predominantly on oral and traditional retellings rather than documented, empirical evidence.
Francesco de Bourcard, writing in his 1866 book Italian: Usi e costumi di Napoli ('Customs and Traditions of Naples'), Vol. II (p. 124), seemed to know the recipe with a different name, and to consider the addition of tomatoes an extra for both marinara and Margherita:
According to the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana:
In pizzerias in the area of Rome, the recipe is commonly modified with the addition of salted anchovies.