Who invented pizza, Italians or Greeks?

The debate over whether pizza is fundamentally Greek or Italian hinges entirely on how one chooses to define the word "pizza." If the measure is the ancient practice of baking a flat, round piece of bread and adorning it with various toppings, then the Greeks certainly have a strong, historical claim. However, if the measure is the specific culinary creation featuring yeast dough, tomatoes, and cheese as we know it today, the origin story firmly anchors itself in the vibrant, working-class streets of Naples, Italy. ^[2][8] This distinction between the ancestor and the descendant is crucial to resolving what is often an emotionally charged culinary argument.

# Ancient Baking

Long before Naples perfected the dish, various civilizations across the Mediterranean and Near East enjoyed variations of topped flatbreads. ^[1] The ancient Greeks were particularly fond of a bread called plakous. ^[6] This plakous was a simple, unleavened or slightly leavened flatbread often baked with toppings like herbs, onion, garlic, and sometimes cheese. ^[4][6] This practice demonstrates a conceptual lineage, where the foundational idea—a sturdy bread base acting as an edible plate for other ingredients—is shared across millennia. ^[2] The Romans also had their own forms, such as focaccia or panis focacius, which were flat breads often dressed with oil and herbs, providing another deep layer to the concept’s ancestry. ^[1] These early versions were not "pizza" as we understand it, lacking the signature tomato sauce that defines the modern iteration. ^[2]

# Tomato's Arrival

The true transformation of the topped flatbread into what the world now recognizes as pizza required a key ingredient that only arrived in Europe from the Americas long after the ancient Greek examples were baked: the tomato. ^[1][2] Tomatoes were initially viewed with suspicion, often regarded as ornamental or even poisonous when they first appeared in European cuisine around the 16th century. ^[2] It wasn't until the late 18th and early 19th centuries that the impoverished commoners of Naples began incorporating the fruit into their staple foods, including their flatbreads. ^[1][2] This adoption marks the clear divergence point between ancient flatbreads and modern pizza.

To better visualize this historical shift in ingredients, consider the conceptual steps:

This table highlights that while the format is ancient, the flavor profile that makes pizza globally recognizable is distinctly modern and tied to the post-Columbian exchange. ^[1]

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# Neapolitan Center

Naples is consistently cited as the specific birthplace of modern pizza, evolving from a simple food for the lazzaroni—the city's working poor—into a more defined dish. ^[2][8] These Neapolitans needed food that was cheap, quick to eat, and provided substantial calories for their strenuous labor. ^[2][8] The early pizzerias were not grand restaurants; they were humble establishments selling sliced pizza right on the street or in small shops. ^[8] The earliest documented evidence of these "pizzas" often referred to flatbreads topped with lard, cheese, and basil, long before the famous tomato topping became ubiquitous. ^[1]

This concentration in Naples is significant because it suggests that pizza developed not from royal decree or high gastronomy, but from necessity and innovation at the base of society. This environment allowed for rapid experimentation and standardization based on affordability and taste preference among a consistent local clientele. ^[2] The city itself became the authority on the technique and ingredients, fostering the rise of the pizzaiolo as a recognized artisan. ^[8]

# Royal Recognition

The transition from humble street food to a dish worthy of national symbolism is often attributed to a single legendary event that cemented pizza’s place in Italian identity. ^[2] In 1889, when King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy visited Naples, the Queen supposedly tired of the elaborate French cuisine typical of royalty. ^[1][8] She summoned the city's most famous pizzaiolo, Raffaele Esposito of Pizzeria Brandi (or his predecessor's shop). ^[1]

Esposito prepared three different varieties for the Queen, but the one she favored was designed to represent the new unified nation of Italy. ^[2][8] This pizza was topped with tomatoes (red), mozzarella cheese (white), and fresh basil (green)—the colors of the Italian flag. ^[1][2] This specific creation was supposedly named Pizza Margherita in her honor. ^[1][8] While the story itself may contain romanticized embellishments, its historical importance is undeniable: it elevated pizza from a regional peasant staple to a symbol of national pride, giving it cultural weight beyond its simple ingredients. ^[2]

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# Semantic Divide

The argument between Greeks and Italians rarely centers on the 1889 event; instead, it focuses on semantics—the very definition of the word "pizza". ^[4] If one views pizza as a broad category of any flatbread topped with savory items, the Greeks possess precedence through plakous. ^[6] Many cultures, including the Chinese with their scallion pancakes or various Levantine traditions with manakish, share the flatbread-as-canvas concept. ^[4] The very etymology of the word "pizza" is debated, with potential roots in Latin or Germanic languages, further complicating a simple, singular attribution. ^[1]

However, culinary history often recognizes an invention not just by its basic components, but by its finished, recognizable form that gains international fame. ^[2] The dish we call pizza today—the one that spread globally through Italian immigration, particularly to the United States—is inseparable from the Neapolitan contribution of the tomato sauce and the specific baking methods developed in Campania. ^[2][8] It’s analogous to saying the ancient Greeks invented the sandwich because they ate bread and fillings, ignoring the contribution of later figures who defined the sliced, layered structure popular today. The Greeks invented a precursor, but the Italians, specifically the Neapolitans, invented pizza. ^[4]

Thinking about this historical evolution from a modern perspective, it is interesting to note how tightly bound regional identity became to the final product. In modern Naples, the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) fiercely guards the specific standards for what constitutes "True Neapolitan Pizza," dictating everything from the type of flour to the dome temperature of the oven. ^[1] This institutionalization of a recipe centuries after its initial, humble creation showcases an intense cultural ownership over the method, which far exceeds the simple ownership of the concept of a topped flatbread. ^[2] The Greeks' ancient contributions were foundational to breadmaking, but the Italians codified the specific dish that conquered the world.

# Global Spread

The final chapter in the pizza story involves its dispersal from Naples, primarily carried overseas by Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ^[2] While the Greeks continued to enjoy their culinary heritage, it was the Neapolitan immigrants who established the first recognized pizzerias in places like New York City, beginning in the early 1900s. ^[2] These immigrant communities preserved the techniques and flavors they brought with them, ensuring that the Italian definition of pizza—tomato, mozzarella, basil—became the standard against which all other variations are measured. ^[8]

Ultimately, when someone asks who invented pizza, the most accurate and informative answer acknowledges both parties while clarifying their roles. The Greeks laid the conceptual groundwork for savory flatbreads, an ancient and universal practice. ^[6][4] But the Italians, through the specific Neapolitan genius of combining bread, tomato, and cheese into the Pizza Margherita tradition, invented the dish that has become a global phenomenon. ^[1][2][8] The argument, therefore, is less about historical fact and more about whether one values the ancestor or the perfected, defined descendant.