Neapolitan Food: A Guide to Eating in Naples and Campania

Naples is the most influential city in Italian food history. Neapolitan pizza changed how the world eats. The San Marzano tomato — the tomato — was cultivated in the volcanic plains below Vesuvius. The sfogliatella pastry, the ragù napoletano, and the espresso as we know it were all either invented or perfected in this city.

Pizza

Neapolitan pizza is a TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) product with strict rules: Tipo 00 flour, fresh or San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte (buffalo mozzarella is optional but prized), hand-stretched by a pizzaiolo, cooked in a wood-fired oven at 485°C for 60–90 seconds.

The result is a soft, charred, slightly wet pizza with a puffy crust (cornicione) and minimal toppings. The canonical versions:

• Margherita — San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, fresh basil, olive oil
• Margherita con bufala — with buffalo mozzarella instead of fior di latte (richer, more liquid)
• Marinara — tomato, garlic, oregano, olive oil. No cheese. The oldest version.
• Fritta — the fried pizza. Dough folded over ricotta, salami, and provola, then deep-fried. Street food in Quartieri Spagnoli.

Where to eat pizza in Naples: Pizzeria Starita (invented the fried pizza margherita), Pizzeria Di Matteo, Pizzeria Brandi (claimed inventor of the margherita in 1889), and hundreds of others. Queue times at the most famous places are significant. Many very good pizzerias have no queues at all.

The Street Food of Naples

Naples has one of the richest street food cultures in Europe — eating while walking is normal, and the street food is serious.

Cuoppo — a paper cone filled with fried seafood: small squid, prawns, anchovies, battered vegetables. Bought from fritterie (fry shops) in the historic centre.

Frittatina di pasta — fried pasta cake. Bucatini or maccheroni mixed with béchamel, ham, and provola, formed into a disc and deep-fried. A Neapolitan invention.

Pizzette fritte — small discs of fried pizza dough. Sold from street stalls, eaten while walking.

Panzarotti — fried dough balls filled with ricotta and salami. Similar to calzone but smaller and always fried.

Pera e musso — boiled octopus tentacles with lemon, sold from carts at the port and the Spaccanapoli market. One of the city’s most ancient street foods.

Pasta and Main Courses

Ragù napoletano — a slow-cooked meat sauce (beef, pork ribs, sausage) braised for 6–8 hours in tomato, wine, and lard until the meat disintegrates and the sauce becomes almost black. Traditionally cooked on Sunday morning, eaten at Sunday lunch. Served with paccheri or rigatoni. Completely different from Bolognese.

Spaghetti alle vongole — spaghetti with clams, white wine, garlic, parsley, and olive oil. A coastal Campanian dish that Naples claims as its own. The clams are the local vongole verace.

Genovese — an onion and meat sauce (no tomato) braised for hours until the onions dissolve into a golden-brown mass. Nothing to do with Genoa — the name refers to a Genoese trading community in medieval Naples. The most underknown great Neapolitan pasta dish.

Baccalà alla napoletana — salt cod with tomatoes, olives, and capers. A Friday dish throughout the city.

Pastry and Sweets

Sfogliatella — the defining Neapolitan pastry. Two versions:

• Riccia (curly): crispy, layered pastry shells, like rough filo, filled with sweetened sheep’s ricotta, semolina, and candied orange peel
• Frolla (smooth): a shortcrust pastry version with the same filling

Both are eaten hot, in the morning. The pastry shop Attanasio near the Centrale station is the most famous; dozens of other excellent pasticcerie operate throughout the city.

Babà al rhum — a small yeast cake soaked in rum syrup. Ubiquitous in Neapolitan bakeries. The best are made fresh and served immediately.

Pastiera napoletana — a wheat berry and ricotta tart with orange blossom, cinnamon, and candied citrus. An Easter cake, though available year-round. Dense, aromatic, and completely distinctive.

What to Drink

Espresso — Naples is the espresso capital. The Neapolitan espresso is more intense and slightly bitter than the Roman version; the crema is thick and the extraction is shorter. Drunk standing at the bar, without milk (after breakfast).

Lacryma Christi — the wine of the volcanic slopes of Vesuvius. A dry white and a light red made from indigenous Campanian grapes (Coda di Volpe for white, Piedirosso for red). Names reference the myth that Christ wept over Lucifer’s fall — his tears watered the vines. Quality has improved significantly in recent decades.

Gragnano — a sparkling red wine from the hills south of Naples. Fruity, low-alcohol (11%), and unusual — a fizzy red served slightly chilled. The traditional accompaniment to pizza napoletana.

Limoncello — produced on the Amalfi Coast and in Naples from Sfusato Amalfitano or Femminello del Gargano lemons. Served ice-cold as a digestivo.