3000 BC
Egyptians begin producing leavened bread and beer
332 BC
Alexander The Great conquers Egypt and spreads knowledge of controlled fermentation and bread baking to Greek colonies including southern Italy.
200 BC
Rome controls the Western Mediterranean becoming a hub for artisans and exotic foods from all over the known world.
C. 200-100 BC
Romans develop the domed brick oven and breads are seasoned with herbs, oils, spices and dried fish as a street food in the forerunner of the modern pizzeria
79 AD
Pompeii is destroyed resulting in the preservation of over 30 ovens that are the model for the Italian pizza oven of today.
C. 1095
Returning crusaders bring the water buffalo to Italy.
1478
Turks invade Albania. Fleeing natives settle in Calabria bringing with them their savory stuffed Easter pies, the forerunner of the deep dish pizza
1500
Spain rules Naples and begins introducing plants and foods from its new world exploration.
C. 1600
Hungry Neapolitans begin eating the tomato brought from Peru, which was previously thought to be a poisonous ornamental plant.
C. 1780
The tomato and mozzarella d’buffala are combined in southern Italian cooking.
1825
The Erie Canal opens in New York State, setting the stage for the north eastern U.S. to become the industrial center of the world and creating jobs that ultimately lure millions of Italian immigrants to our shores.
1861
Garibaldi begins unification of Italy installing Victor Emanuel as King. Slowly the foods of Italy become less regionalized, as ideas and traditions are exchanged.
1889
Raffaele Esposito is credited with combining cheese, tomato sauce and basil on a pizza as a tribute to Queen Margherita, wife of the newly crowned King Umberto. The cheese pizza as we know it is born.
1890
The mass migration of southern Italians through Ellis Island begins, swelling the ranks of Italians in the U.S. from 4000 in 1850 to 4 million by 1920.
1905
Gennaro Lombardi receives the first business license for a pizzeria in New York City.
1925
Frank Pepe opens his Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven Connecticut. In Neapolitan dialect he calls his amazing pies “ah-beetz”. The white clam pizza is created.
1936
Delorenzo’s in Trenton New Jersey opens. The ‘tomato pie” is introduced to south Jersey and Philadelphia.
1943
Ric Riccardo and Ike Sewell establish Pizzeria Uno in Chicago. Riccardo goes back to his Calabrian roots to develop the variation that becomes the famous deep dish pizza.
1947
Nick Perino a GI returning from Europe creates the now famous Chicago style thin crust pizza at the Home Run Inn.
C. 1950
Pizza begins moving out of Italian neighborhoods and becomes a slice of mainstream American life.
1954
Shakeys Pizza is founded in California. The chain pizzeria concept begins.
1957
Celentano begins manufacturing frozen pizzas.
1960
Ed Carney opens the first Pizza Hut.
1960
The Monaghan brothers open the first Dominoe’s Pizza. Fast delivery becomes the primary goal of many pizza operators.
1980
With an emphasis on quality, Ed Ladou begins using fresh artisanal ingredients in creative combinations. California style pizza is born.
1983-1984
Gerry Durnell creates Pizza Today Magazine and Pizza Expo unifying a fragmented industry and beginning a new era of professionalism.
1984
The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana is created to establish and preserve the standards of ‘authentic” Neapolitan pizza.
1989
Barry O’Halloran wins the first pizza spinning championship at Pizza Expo in Las Vegas garnering an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
1990
Dolphis Boucher performs the first choreographed pizza spinning routine set to music and goes on to become the first 3 time winner of the World’s Pizza Spinning Championship.
1994
Culinary mecca, Pizzeria Bianco opens in Phoenix Arizona. Not satisfied with simply recreating Neapolitan style pizza, founder Chris Bianco seeks to capture the spirit and philosophy of Italian chefs by using locally grown artisanal ingredients and staying true to his own vision of perfection. He becomes the first pizza maker to win a James Beard award.
1995
Tony Gemignani begins his reign as the most award winning pizza maker in history, receiving recognition for both his acrobatic and culinary skill.
1996
Una Pizza Napoletana is founded. Owner Anthony Mangieri shuns the standards of the VPN as too lax, and begins baking pizzas using techniques that can be traced back to the Romans.
2008
Sam Facchini and John Arena develop and begin teaching the first university level pizza course at a four year university. The study of pizza as an important element of the hospitality industry is recognized.
The present
With outstanding dedication to their craft, the new breed of pizza makers such as Jonathon Goldsmith at Chicago’s Spacca Napoli continue to, research, preserve and advance the techniques set in motion by the ancient Egyptian bakers over 3000 years ago…
The future is unwritten, but will be shaped by the next generation of committed pizza professionals.
“don’t just preserve the ashes, keep the flame”
