An edible construct as elemental and varied as the sandwich, pizza is one of America’s favorite foods. More than three billion pizzas are sold each year in the United States, prompting the question, how did it all begin? There’s no pinpointing the first pizza, but archaeologists in Sardinia have found evidence of leavened bread baked over 7,000 years ago, and flatbreads with toppings were consumed by the ancient Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. These early ‘pizzas’ show up in Virgil’s Aeneid, published in the year 19 CE. Celaeno, the Harpy queen, prophecies that the Trojans will not find peace until they are hungry enough to eat their tables (or plates, depending on the translation). Later in their journey, having arrived in Latium, now part of Lazio, Aeneas and his crew gathered beneath a tree and prepared ‘thin wheaten cakes as platters for their meal’ topped with foraged mushrooms and herbs, after which Aeneas’ son Ascanius exclaims: “Look! We’ve even eaten our plates!” and they realize that these were the ‘tables’ foretold by Celaeno.

Pizza was first named as such in 997 CE, in a text from Gaeta, just south of Rome, in which the son of a feudal lord pledges twelve pizzas to the local bishop as an annual homage, but it was in Naples in the 1700’s that the modern pizza was born. Under the Spanish Bourbon kings, Naples became one of the largest cities in Europe, its population doubling in the first half of the 18th century, and pizzaiolos began selling sweet flatbreads with toppings to the poorest laborers of the city, known as lazzaroni, because their raggedness resembled that of Lazarus. The simplest pizzas were topped simply with garlic, lard and salt, but others included basil, caciocavallo cheese made from horse’s milk, tiny fish called cecenielli, and eventually,
tomatoes. Tomatoes are indigenous to South America, and the Spanish brought them to the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily in the 15th or 16th century. Because they are in the nightshade family, tomatoes were believed by many Europeans to be poisonous, and the low demand made them an affordable topping for the lazzaroni.

Gennaro Lombardi opened the first American pizzeria, in New York City, in 1897, in a grocery store at 531⁄2 Spring Street, with lunchtime tomato pies wrapped in paper and tied with a string for the local factory workers. As the 20th century progressed, regional variations emerged, like Chicago-style ‘deep dish’ pizza, invented by a Texan during the Second World War, and Hawaiian Pizza, created by a Greek immigrant in Canada. ‘California-gourmet’ pizzas can be topped with anything from barbecued chicken to smoked salmon, Pizza Hut in Poland sells a spicy ‘Indian’ pie, and Domino’s in Japan offers such outlandish extras as pickles, tapioca boba, and fish & chips!

THIS SUNDAY, October 1st, starting at 1pm at Oakland Yard, we’re going back to pizza basics, with everyone's favorite mobile pizzaiolo Sam Ciccarelli and his Urelio’s Pizza crew slinging pies. Simple combinations of the freshest ingredients and a piping hot wood oven make Urelio’s pizzas some of the best around, and we’ll have wine and beer to complement the pies, as well as macarons from SOS Bakeshop, and good times for all!

From 1816 to 1861, under the control of the Spanish Bourbons, the island Kingdom of Sicily merged with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In the spirit of this brief historical unification (and because we just received some delicious Sicilian wine) we’ll feature SICILIAN TASTING FLIGHTS this SATURDAY, September 30th, from 2 to 6pm.

BUT FIRST, TONIGHT - THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS:
Varietal tastings of Sauvignon Blanc and Tempranillo
2022 Monte Rio Cellars Sauvignon Blanc
2022 McBride Sisters Sauvignon Blanc
2020 Umathum Sauvignon Blanc
2021 Friend and Farmer La Mancha Tempranillo
2020 Bodegas D. Mateo La Mateo Rioja
2018 Ramirez de la Piscina Crianza Rioja
Tasting flights $15 from 5-9pm and wines by the glass until 9pm

SATURDAY 9/30: WINES of SICILY
2021 Gorghi Tondi Grillo
2022 Occhipinti SP68 Bianco
2021 Cantine Madaudo Barone di Bernaj Nerello Mascalese
2022 Occhipinti SP68 Rosso
Tasting flights $18 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

Cordialmente,
Max