Neapolitan
Soft, puffy, blistered edge. Small pizzas, eaten with a fork or folded.
Margherita
The platonic Neapolitan: red, white, green. Tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil. Less is more — let each ingredient speak.
Open recipe →Marinara
Older than the Margherita and with no cheese to hide behind: tomato, sliced garlic, oregano, oil. The one Neapolitans order to judge a pizzeria.
Open recipe →Diavola
The Neapolitan hot one. Margherita underneath, spicy salame on top, and a little chilli oil to finish — the salame should crisp at the edges, not swim.
Open recipe →Quattro formaggi
Four cheeses on a white base. Fior di latte for the melt, fontina for richness, gorgonzola for the argument, and a dust of parmesan to tie it together. No sauce — the oil is the base.
Open recipe →Prosciutto e Rucola
A Margherita baked plain, then prosciutto draped over the hot pie and a fistful of rocket on top. Nothing cured or green ever sees the oven; the crust's heat does all the work.
Open recipe →Capricciosa
The Italian everything: tomato, mozzarella, cooked ham, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and an olive or two, each in its own quarter if you're being proper. A whole meal on a twelve-inch base.
Open recipe →Funghi e Taleggio
A white pie of mushrooms and washed-rind cheese. Taleggio melts into pools between the mushrooms and the thyme keeps it from being heavy. Cook the mushrooms first or they weep.
Open recipe →Salsiccia e Friarielli
Naples' own sausage-and-greens pie: crumbled pork sausage, bitter broccoli rabe sautéed with garlic and chilli, smoked mozzarella if you can get it. No tomato; it doesn't need one.
Open recipe →Bee Sting
Roberta's in Brooklyn made this one famous: a Margherita with hot soppressata, and honey over the top once it's out. The salami's heat against the honey's sweetness is the whole idea, so don't skip either.
Open recipe →Rosa
Chris Bianco's pie from Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix: no tomato and no mozzarella, just Parmigiano, red onion shaved paper-thin, rosemary and roasted pistachios. The onion turns the pie pink in the oven, which is where the name comes from.
Open recipe →Wiseguy
Another of Chris Bianco's pies: smoked mozzarella, onions roasted until soft and sweet, and fennel sausage. There's no tomato. It's smoky, sweet and salty, and deliberately a little over the top.
Open recipe →Margherita Sbagliata
Franco Pepe's "mistaken Margherita" from Pepe in Grani in Caiazzo. The mozzarella bakes on its own, and the tomato and basil go on cold once it's out, so you get raw tomato against hot cheese. It's worth opening your best can for.
Open recipe →Genovese
Naples' other ragù: a mountain of onions and a little beef, cooked for hours into a sweet brown jam. Pizzerias like Concettina ai Tre Santi put it on pizza. Make the ragù a day ahead; it's better for the wait.
Open recipe →