Brad A. Johnson
  • Blog
  • About
  • Photography
    • Food Photography
    • Travel Photography
    • Restaurant Photography
    • Hotel & Resort Photography
  • Writing
  • Contact
Brad A. Johnson

Food & Travel

Brad A Johnson
  • Blog
  • About
  • Photography
    • Food Photography
    • Travel Photography
    • Restaurant Photography
    • Hotel & Resort Photography
  • Writing
  • Contact

The Best Pizza in Naples, Italy

  • February 19, 2006
  • Brad A. Johnson
The goal: Find the best pizza in Naples.
“But hasn’t it already been determined that Michele makes the best pizza in Naples?” asks a friend in London who travels to Italy often just to eat.
“Really?” I ask. “Says who?”
“I don’t know,” he says. “Everybody?”
I email a chef with long ties to Naples. He emails back: “Michele makes the best pizza.”

I obviously need more opinions. So I email the chef at the new Romeo Hotel in Naples. He’s a native Napolitano, just back from a stint at the acclaimed Fat Duck in England… His reply comes in. “Il Pizzaiolo del Presidente makes the best pizza in Naples.” But his boss, the hotel general manager, chimes in, too: “No,” he insists. “You must try Sorbillo!”

It’s late at night when I arrive at the Naples airport, and I ask my taxi driver if he knows of my newly opened hotel. “Of course!” he exclaims. “Romeo is next door to the best pizza in Napoli, Pizzeria Sofia!”And so that’s where I start, at Pizzeria Sofia (via Cristoforo Colombo 2-4).

“Buona Sera! Come in!” cries a waiter, gesturing me to an empty seat beneath an autographed photo of a giddy-looking Sophia Loren. The first thing I notice is the fire: a wood-burning hearth the size of a Fiat that is glowing bright, bright orange. It is a raging inferno, completely out of control yet the chef is stuffing more logs inside, apparently tempting his fate. A potent aroma of melting cheese and blistered dough smacks me in the face.

The menu lists a dozen different pizzas—only one size of anything. I ask the waiter, “Margherita? Or something else?”

“Margherita,” he says, snapping the menu from my hands and rushing away before I have a chance to see what the other options are exactly.

I look around. The Margherita—tomato sauce, a few basil leaves and oozy blobs of mozzarella—is what everyone around me is feverishly tearing into. It takes only a few minutes for my pie to emerge from the blazing hearth. When it arrives, the edges are still smoking. There’s an ashy tang to the crust and a brightness in the sauce that I’ve not tasted before, and it doesn’t take more than a bite to know I love it. Could Michele or Sorbillo or any of those other favorites really be any better than this?

The dining room at Sorbillo (Photo by Brad A Johnson)
The dining room at Sorbillo (Photo by Brad A Johnson)
Pizzeria Brandi, Naples (Photo by Brad A Johnson)
Pizzeria Brandi, Naples (Photo by Brad A Johnson)
Naples
Naples
Pizzeria Umberto, Naples (Photo by Brad A. Johnson)
Pizzeria Umberto, Naples (Photo by Brad A. Johnson)
Naples
Naples
Pizzeria da Michele, Naples
Pizzeria da Michele, Naples
Naples

The next morning, everywhere I glance, I see a pizzeria. Naples is a funhouse of mirrors, but instead of mirrors, it’s pizzerias. I follow a few twists and turns through the crooked cobblestone streets to arrive at Pizzeria Sorbillo (via Tribunali 32), where a fire like the one the night before rages in an igloo-shaped oven. Old ladies blow air kisses at one another, raising their wine glasses.

My pizza—one size fits all, about 14 inches and the norm everywhere I go—refuses to be contained by the plate it’s served on. Like a magnet, the charred, misshapen crust quickly droops onto the surface of the table. The dough smells vibrant, inebriating, alive. And when I take a bite, although I’m expecting goodness, the cheese takes me by surprise. It’s the creamiest mozzarella I’ve ever imagined, almost like milk. What happened next, I can’t recall. The next thirty minutes are a blur.

I’m now waddling down the street—stuffed and delirious, no more than two blocks away from Sorbillo—when I hear what sounds like a party. I look over and see Il Pizzaiolo del Presidente (via Tribunali 120). I can’t possibly eat another bite—but I’ve been spotted.

“Buon giorno! Come in!” And I’m lead by the arm downstairs toward the merriment, into a cave-like basement filled mostly with businessmen, ties loosened, jackets perfectly tailored, hand-torn pizzas littering their tables. A few moments later, feeling what amounts to a runner’s high, I muster the enthusiasm to declare the president’s Margherita also very good, but too heavily laden with cheese to be my favorite.

Two days in, I finally try the infamous Antica Pizzeria da Michele (via Cesare Sersale 1-3). After a 20-minute wait, I’m instructed to sit with six bedraggled college students from Bologna at a table built for four. Their English isn’t any better than my non-existent Italian, but we become fast friends on a shared mission. The staff—grumpy old men dressed in hospital-style white shirts and hats—barks at us (at everyone) like prison guards. They strong-arm us to order immediately, then hover (even nudge us) when they think we’re eating too slowly. We all agree the pizza is good, especially the tomato sauce. But overall, it’s not nearly as good as Sorbillo, and definitely not worth the abuse.

For days, I beat a path through dozens of friendly, welcoming pizzerias, some fancy, some merely windows in an alley. Ultimately, I taste the most sublime tomato sauce at Donna Margherita (vico II Alabardieri 5). And I impulsively clap my hands when I taste the city’s best crust at Brandi (Salita S. Anna di Palazzo 1-2), the place where the Margherita pizza was coined circa 1880 (the pizzeria originally opened a hundred years earlier under a different name).

But the best overall? I have to side with Sorbillo.

For more travel inspiration and photos, I invite you to follow me and join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

 

Share
Tweet
Brad A. Johnson

Brad A. Johnson is a writer and photographer specializing in food and travel. His work has been honored by the James Beard Awards, Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, World Food Media Awards, pdn Food Photography Awards and others. Based in Southern California, Brad currently serves as restaurant critic for the Orange County Register.

Next Article

Going Ape: Tracking Highland Gorillas in Uganda’s Impenetrable Forest

  • December 12, 2007
  • Brad A. Johnson
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Travel: Adventure
  • Travel: Asia
  • Travel: Culinary
  • Travel: Europe

R.I.P. Crystal Cruises (Update: Returning in 2023!)

  • Brad A. Johnson
  • February 6, 2022
View Post
  • California Restaurants
  • Travel: Culinary

Review: Addison, San Diego

  • Brad A. Johnson
  • December 4, 2021
View Post
  • California Hotels
  • California Restaurants
  • Travel: Culinary

Quick Review: Valle, Oceanside CA

  • Brad A. Johnson
  • November 19, 2021
View Post
  • Travel: Culinary

Food Photographer of the Year Exhibition at the Royal Photographic Society in Bristol, England

  • Brad A. Johnson
  • October 29, 2021
View Post
  • Travel: Culinary
  • Travel: Mexico

Where to Eat in Los Cabos, Mexico: The Restaurants Redefining Baja Cuisine

  • Brad A. Johnson
  • June 13, 2021
View Post
  • Travel: Culinary
  • Travel: Mexico

How to Make the Red Snapper a la Talla from Tamarindos Los Cabos

  • Brad A. Johnson
  • June 5, 2021
View Post
  • Travel: Culinary
  • Travel: Mexico

Hotel Review: The Cape, Los Cabos, Mexico

  • Brad A. Johnson
  • May 31, 2021
View Post
  • Travel: Culinary

How to Make Sangrita, Mexico City Style

  • Brad A. Johnson
  • May 2, 2021
This is the new Lao restaurant in Westminster that everyone will soon be talking about. The pork sausages, the barbecue chicken thighs, the sticky rice, the khao piak (Lao chicken noodle soup)...⁠ Link in stories. 176 5
Finally got around to discovering Del Rey, a super-sexy little speakeasy and tapas bar tucked inside the estate of Villa Royale in Palm Springs. Very tasty. Very cool. More details on the blog. ⁠ 121 4
Villa Royale, Palm Springs. Really cool vibe. Quick review on the blog. Link in stories. Will definitely be back. ⁠ 118 1
A few more scenes from my annual 75 Best Places to Eat in the @ocregister. Hungry yet? ⁠ 238 3
Today's the day! My annual dining guide to the 75 Best Places to Eat in Orange County is live. (The OC Register's print subscribers will find the print supplement in tomorrow's home delivery; unfortunately, the printed version is not available on newsstands.) The ranked list is back for the first time since 2019, plus a big new twist this year. It's behind the paywall, sorry. ⁠ 353 45
#JoshuaTree #Camping #Airstream #vacation #roughingit 87 4
Brad A. Johnson
  • Blog
  • About
  • Photography
  • Writing
  • Contact
Writer. Photographer. Traveler. Restaurant Critic.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.