Pizza celebrates its international day without losing an ounce of popularity

Rome (Italy), Feb 9 (EFE) - (Camera: Antonello Nusca) Pizza, the most widely used Italian word in the world, celebrates its international day today without losing an iota of popularity, thanks to its ability to reinvent itself, while always maintaining the essence of a dish that is the engine of Italian gastronomy. With many ingredients like the 'capriciosa' or simple like the 'margherita', it retains an undisputed success among locals and tourists who travel to Italy in search of the perfect pizza, which could be that of Franco Pepe, the best pizza maker in the world, according to the Best Pizza Awards. This Neapolitan chef, a symbol of innovation, has catapulted fried pizza, among other delicacies, to success, while other restaurateurs, such as Stefano de Miguele, owner of a popular Roman restaurant that has continued to fill up with tourists for three decades, are committed to the classic formulas.

FOOTAGE OF PIZZA MAKING AND SELLING IN ROME. SOUNDBITES OF STEFANO DE MIGUELE, OWNER OF THE RESTAURANT "LA SOFFITTA".

Translations:

1. "Pizza is the engine of catering because it is what drives catering forward. A good part of catering is driven by pizza".

2. "The most popular are the classics, the Margherita and the Marinara (...) Without taking anything away from the others, pineapple on pizza does not exist. Let them eat it in California or Miami".

Innovation is there but with Italian products. You can make pizza with beef carpaccio, with bresaola, with four cheeses, with taleggio, with gorgonzola but with Italian products, without looking for products that come from America or South Africa. Let's leave them in their hands".

4. "Long live pizza always because in Italy every region has its own pizza. Naples has its pizza".

Rome has its pizza, Genoa has its pizza, Bari has its pizza. Every region has its own pizza. And it is a word that is not translated anywhere in the world. It is the only Italian product that is not translated in the world. The name pizza all over the world is always pizza. It has no translation.