Pizza pizza pizza! On my recent trip to the Amalfi Coast we had a few hours to kill before out of Naples so instead of going straight to the airport we did some speedy research and asked our driver to drop us off in the middle of the pizza district. 

First stop was L’antica Pizzeria da Michele which has gained fame from being featured in the movie Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts (they even have a photo of “Liz” from the movie eating pizza in their restaurant on the wall!). Da Michele was opened in 1936 by Michele Condurro, using family pizza making skills dating back to 1870.  5 generations later, Da Michele is still going strong, and still is faithful to its original menu which is limited to the two types of Neapolitan Pizza,  the “Margherita” (tomato base with buffalo mozzarella, basil and extra virgin olive oil) and the “Marinara” (tomato, garlic, oregano and extra virgin olive oil).

I had read that you need to arrive early if you don’t want to queue in the dinner time rush, so we had our driver drop us off directly at Da Michele before it hit 5pm, and while there were people milling round outside, got straight into the restaurant, wheelie cases and all. We got a seat straight away, right next to the pizza oven and the picture of Julia Roberts, which was the perfect place to sit and observe the clientele – an amusing mix of wide eye tourists (like us) and bemused locals (whose entertainment we appeared to be!). 

Now, from what you can see from my pictures (and from Eat, Pray, Love!) the restaurant itself isn’t must to write home about, but you obviously don’t go here for its looks – you go for the pizza.  After we sat down, we ordered a couple of bottles of sparkling water, Peronis (when in Italy!) and one of each of the Margarita and the Marinara. The drinks arrived almost immediately, with the pizza swiftly following (less than 10 minutes after ordering).  

I’m happy to say that after almost 15o years in the pizza making business, the pizzas lived up to their reputation.  The base had just the right amount of sticky doughiness and the toppings were rich and melt in your mouth.  We managed to devour 2 pizzas in about 10 minutes, which is pretty impressive even for us (especially after 3 days away feasting in the Amalfi coast) but we really couldn’t put the pizza down!

After we had finished, we swiftly paid, grabbed our wheelie cases and set off up the road (which unfortunately was a bit of a hill) on the next part of the mission.  

Da Matteo had been tagged as stop 2 on the pizza mission as it is known as a place where the locals go, with most of its business happening on the street rather than in the restaurant, with workers and students alike grabbing pizza to go (apparently Bill Clinton once visited here).  Also having opened in 1936, the restaurant has a long standing reputation in Naples, with similar warnings over the queue.  However, we managed to secure our takeaway pizza (Margarita only) within about 5 minutes – narrowly beating the dinner rush. 

After securing our pizza, we took it down the street and after sampling a piece each, were again blown away by how the pizza tasted.  again, the magic of the Napoli pizza was in the dough, a soft almost soupy mix of oil and simple toppings. It really is hard to say which one was best! 

While we were waiting at Da Matteo we did cast our eye over a range of non pizza related treats in the hot cabinet, which contained a selection of arancini balls and other fried goodness, but as we were almost at the point of implosion from pizza, for a change we managed to resist the temptation. But if you are going there hungry they looked like they would be worth a try! 

Not only were we about to combust, but after Di Matteo we were running short on time to get to the airport, so we didn’t make it to the third stop on our express pizza tour, which was supposed to be Antina Pizzeria Port’Alba.  This pizzeria made the cut as it opened in 1738 and is thought to be the first pizzeria in the world.  Now with a claim like that it would be rude not to head back to Naples at some stage to try it out!

After my Naples pizza experience, I now see why the Italians curse the Hawaiian flavoured pizza (also embarrassingly one of my faves) as a violation of the classic pizza – from what I found in Naples, simple toppings are all that is required to make one hell of a pizza. 

Go here for: sampling the world’s best pizza for EUR 5 and under

Menu highlights: at Da Michele the Margarita with a cold Peroni to wash it down; Di Matteo’s EUR 1 mini Margarita, which comes in a folded piece of paper rather than a box making it easier to eat on the run

Top-tips: go hungry – the pizza is the best I’ve ever had and you want to be able to indulge completely; Da Michele is a no-reservations kind of place so go early if you want to sit down but don’t want queue, or alternatively order to takeaway (it’s a separate queue and goes much faster); hot off the press is the news that Da Michele is opening imminently  on Church Street in Stoke Newington.  Keeping with its roots the menu will be limited to the classics but there will also be two specials that will change every so often.  The main man from Naples Marco Condurro is currently in London training up the staff to ensure the pizza is true to its Naples roots so if you don’t feel like going all the way to Naples for the world’s best pizza, you can soon get it in London

Price: EUR 5 for a pizza

#august2016