Posted by Jonny Mangia
Seven years ago this month, I went on a trip that would change my life forever.
The Holy Site - Pizzeria Da Michele in December 2000.
It was December 2000 and I was about to embark on my first trip to Italy. I was accompanied by my brother Mario and my cousin Jimmy and though we would spend the majority of time in Rome, I made sure to carve out a day trip - a pilgrimmage to Napoli to taste the city's famous pizza.
Before we left I needed to find the best pizzeria to visit, as our time in Napoli was limited. I owned a book called "Pizza any Way You Slice It" by Brooklynites Charles and Michele Scicicolne and I knew that Charles, aside from being a pizza expert, owned an Italian wine shop in NYC. So I visited him one night and posed the question - which pizzeria do we hit in Napoli? The answer was simple.
There were many pizzerias to choose from, but Da Michele was unique. The founding Condurro family started making pizzas in 1870 and Michele Condurro opened his first pizzeria in 1906. By 1930 they moved to the current spot on Via Cesare Sersale and have been producing pizzas ever since. Since then, 5 generations have been making pizzas and adhering to Michele's instructions - only 2 types of pies (Margherita and Marinara) and no "junk" can be used that could alter it's authenticity or taste. Words to live by.
Historic Moment: Two hours after I arrive in Rome I had my first bite of pizza in Italy. Notice the that I am completely oblivious that I am about to be run down by a Roman guy
driving his vespa on the sidewalk.
Arrival in Rome
Four days into the trip and we were having a rough go of it. The food in Rome was overrated (try to avoid dining near the Piazza Navona), Jimmy had disappeared for two days as he was abducted by his distant cousins and had been force fed brocolli rabe, sausage and prickly pears for 7 hours straight, and Mario was rapidly slipping into a state of delusion due to sleep deprivation. By the 4th day, Mario looked like a gypsy hobo who had just arrived on a slow barge from Albania looking for day labor work.
But on the 5th Day, God said..."Let There Be Pizza in Napoli"...and all was good.
The Menu at Da Michele. Very simple - two pies and drinks, all marked in lira!
Napoli - Una Citta di Caos (A Chaotic City)
The first thing that struck me as we left the Napoli Central Station
and entered the city was that I had never in my life seen a place move
so fast. The cabs, the pedestrians, the scooters, the thieves, the way
the people talked. It made New York City seem like some podunk town in
Idaho. We hailed a cab and asked to be taken to Da Michele. It was only
a 5 minute ride and we nearly got into 5 accidents along the way. The
cab driver finally took us down a one way street that was sized for a
donkey cart as opposed to a car, slammed on the brakes in front of a
crowd of people and pointed out the window. "Michele" he growled. We
had arrived.
The pizza arrives at Da Michele and I am about to go into cardiac arrest.
There were about 20 people milling about outside, one who remarkably looked like Jesus Christ. I figured this pizza had to be really good if the Second Coming was going to take place here.
We took our positions in line and waited, starving, exhausted and looking around anxiously as sirens blared and explosions sounded in the distance. Jimmy had waited all trip to visit the Vatican. Mario had waited all trip to visit a medieval torture museum. Now, I had my moment I had waited for. I was about to finally taste authentic Neapolitan pizza.
I couldn't take the picture quick enough without a slice disappearing.
The inside of Da Michele was very spartan and there were only two types of pies - Margherita and Marinara. I went with a Margherita, which came out with chunks of sweet and tangy local San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte cheese (NOT WATER BUFFALO MOZZARELLA!!!) spread staccato-style over the pie, and the most beautiful, elegantly blistered, soft crust, cooked to perfection in their wood-buring oven, I had ever encountered. I had two. Two whole pies that is. By myself. Washed it down with a few Italian beers as well.
Da Michele's oven - birthplace of the world's greatest pizza.
It was an experience I will never forget. Every time I go back to Italy, I make it a point to return to Da Michele, or their rival pizzeria "Trianon" which is just up the street. Back in 2002 I spent about a week living in Napoli and ate either lunch or dinner at one of the two pizzerias ever day. To this day I have never, EVER tasted a pizza that can come within sniffing distance of the art that these two places create on a daily basis.
Why does it taste so good and why can't it be replicated elsewhere? People say it's the tomatoes, the cheese, the yeast, the water, the skill of the pizza man, the oven, the wood, the longitiude/latitiude of the restaurant or some other factor. I just think making great pizza has simply become embedded in their DNA over the years via repetition and the use of quality ingredients.
If you have the opportunity to visit Napoli, or you are just stopping through on your weigh to Amalfi, Capri or another destination, make it a point to stop at one of these pizzerias. It will change your idea of what is great pizza forevermore!
PS - I took Nikki to Da Michele, along with my mother and sister in 2004 and Nikki told me she liked L&B Spumoni Gardens of Brooklyn better. Blasphemy!!!!
L'Antica Pizzeria Da Michele
Napoli
- Via Cesare Sersale, 1/3
(angolo Via P. Colletta)
Tel. 0815539204
http://www.damichele.net/
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