NThe pizza war in Italy isn’t over yet, the pasta quarrel has already begun. In both cases it is about the money and the whole thing. The dispute over the pizza, which has been recognized by UNESCO as an intangible World Heritage Site since 2017, was mainly caused by the entrepreneur and sports manager Flavio Briatore – who became notorious in Germany primarily through his relationship with Heidi Klum.
Briatore, who has nothing to do with the southern Italian region of Campania and its port metropolis, but comes from Piedmont in the north-west, has literally declared a culture war on Naples’ proud pizzaioli with his new restaurant chain “Crazy Pizza”. In the branches of “Crazy Pizza” – after London, Milan, Monte Carlo, Riyadh, Rome and Porto Cervo on Sardinia, one is soon to be opened in Naples – a Margherita costs at least 14 euros. In the traditional pizzerias of Naples, where the classic was created in 1889 by the head pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito at “Brandi” in honor of Queen Margarethe of Italy, you pay four to maybe six euros for it. Briatore said that a margherita for four euros had to be “weak” even in Naples because it only consisted of the cheapest ingredients, while the margherita at “Crazy Pizza” was as exquisite as the finest ingredients.