Phronesis
No. 097Dish1889 (legend)Cuisine & Food ·History ·Countries

The pizza Margherita story is probably a myth

Every pizzeria tells it: in 1889 a Naples pizzaiolo invented a red, white and green pizza for Queen Margherita. Historians have found little evidence it happened.

2 min read
Neapolitan pizza at Trappica
Image: Bex Walton from London, EnglandCC BY 2.0Wikimedia Commons

The legend

In June 1889, the story goes, King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy were staying in Naples. The pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito was summoned and made three pizzas. The queen preferred the one in the colours of the new Italian flag: red tomato, white mozzarella and green basil. Esposito named it after her, and a letter from the royal household thanking him still hangs in the pizzeria.

It’s a perfect story about a new nation, a popular queen and a humble dish.

The problems

  • No newspaper of the time reported the royal visit to a pizzeria.
  • Researchers have questioned the authenticity of the thank-you letter.
  • The story, and the name Margherita, were first widely promoted in the 1930s and 1940s.
  • Neapolitan writers described pizzas with tomato, mozzarella and basil long before 1889: Emanuele Rocco in 1849 and Francesco De Bourcard’s collection in 1866.

What’s probably true

Tomato, mozzarella and basil was already a standard Neapolitan combination. The royal connection seems to be a later invention that made it famous, and it made it a national symbol.

A useful takeaway: when a food’s origin story involves royalty and a precise date, be suspicious. The croissant and the Ottoman siege of Vienna is another example.

Bring it up

“The famous story of the pizza Margherita and the queen probably never happened. The topping existed decades earlier.”

Follow the thread

  1. Same patternThe croissant is Austrian (sort of) Another beloved food with a royal origin story that historians can’t confirm.
  2. RelatedBefore 1492, Italy had no tomatoes and Thailand had no chillies The tomato on the pizza only arrived in Italy after 1492.
  3. Same patternThe Earl of Sandwich probably wasn’t gambling A dish named after an aristocrat, with an origin story better than the evidence.

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