This is where pizza was invented, and people here argue about it with the seriousness other cities reserve for politics.
There are places in the historic centre that have been feeding the same neighbourhood for over a century, and places that opened last year because a queue formed nearby. Telling them apart doesn't require a guide.
A wood-fired oven, lit and visible. A short menu — a serious Neapolitan pizzeria makes a handful of pizzas, not thirty. Local people eating there, especially at half past one on a Tuesday.
And the cornicione, the raised rim: it should be tall, puffed and blistered black in places. If it's low and even, it isn't Neapolitan.
Avoid menus translated into six languages with photographs of every dish. The real trattoria often doesn't have a written menu at all.
*Traditional verace*** — cooked in 60 to 90 seconds at very high heat, thin and soft in the middle, pronounced rim. The margherita and the marinara are the test.
Contemporary pizza — long-fermented dough, different flours, more elaborate toppings. In Naples the two coexist and argue, which is reason enough to try both.
Don't skip it. Pizza fritta is a disc of dough filled with ricotta, pork cracklings and provola, folded and deep-fried.
It was born of necessity: after the Second World War, with ovens destroyed and ingredients scarce, frying needed only a pan and a little oil. Naples was the most heavily bombed city in Italy, and this is the dish that tells you so.
It was sold mostly by women, from the doorways of ground-floor homes, often on credit — eat today, pay in a week. That system is the subject of an episode of Vittorio De Sica's L'oro di Napoli, with Sophia Loren.
A margherita is often still under six euros, and with a drink you'll walk out under ten. It remains one of the best value meals in Italy.
In Chiaia expect roughly double, in exchange for a table, a wine list and a conversation you can hear.
The historic pizzerias open at lunch and close early in the evening; some shut on Sundays. The worst queues are between 8 and 9pm — arrive at 7.30 or after 10.
The historic centre and the Quartieri Spagnoli for the best value. Chiaia for a proper dinner. The Sanità for neighbourhood places at neighbourhood prices, and for fried pizza sold straight off the street.
This guide is written and maintained in Naples. The Italian version of the site has far more: hundreds of places, neighbourhood guides and long-form stories about the city. Read it in Italian.
