The Oldest Pizzeria In The World Is Still Serving Pies To This Day

Our relationship with pizza is a longstanding love affair that goes back longer than you might realize. One of the most popular foods in the world, pizza has been enjoyed by everyone from drunken college students to ancient Roman spectators with a penchant for snacking at the Colosseum. As befits such a storied dish, the world's oldest pizzeria comes with centuries of backstory, and it's not done making memories yet.

Via Port'Albai is a historic alleyway in the heart of Naples lined with bookstores, colorful graffiti, and, of course, restaurants. The most famous of these is Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba. This modest, family-owned icon of Neapolitan cuisine has been a pizzeria since 1830, but its history of slinging pies doesn't start there. Its real origin goes back one hundred years earlier to 1738, when it opened up as a factory of sorts, using heated stones from Mount Vesuvius to make flatbreads for street vendors to sell cheaply to the less affluent citizens of Naples. These pizza predecessors featured lard and other toppings such as sheep's milk, cheese, anchovies, and whitebait fish. 

In 1830, the factory became a dine-in restaurant, making it widely considered the first pizzeria in the world. It opened a second-floor dining area, as well as adding tables downstairs and outdoor seating, serving guests ranging from locals to ones as famous as Ferdinand of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies (an empire of Southern Italy and Sicily).

Despite its famed history and tourist status, Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba hasn't forgotten its roots as providing food of the people, for the people. Many of its pizzas range in price from €7 to €10, with some outliers like the €15 pizza testardo, with pistachios and shrimp, or the ripieno alla port'alba, with raw dry-cured prosciutto and fior di latte mozzarella, a delicate variation of cow's milk mozzarella that's fresher than your typical mozzarella cheese.

For those unfamiliar with Neapolitan pizza, its origins actually come from a dessert pie from the 1570s that is similar to the interior of a flan. Its modern, wood-fired brick-oven form, however, is an iconic dish, one characterized not by an abundance of ingredients but by their quality, in addition to the expertly-prepared dough, which is more chewy in the middle than your typical thin-sliced pizza, thanks to a prevalence of sauce and high-rising crust. 

This style of pizza is best enjoyed when eaten immediately upon being served, as it doesn't travel well and can get both chewy and soggy once it cools. For a beautifully Neapolitan day, hit Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba to experience the place that started a global phenomenon, and follow it up with a cosce aperte –an exploding lemonade, a Naples tradition and perfect after-pizza digestif. Just be careful — the drink is as messy as the name would indicate.