You might not know this, but I’m Italian so any pizza news is good news for me :)
The fresco, which dates back 2,000 years, emerged during excavations in the Regio IX area of Pompeii’s archaeological park, which is close to Naples, the birthplace of pizza. The painting was on a wall in what is believed to have been the hallway of a home that had a bakery in its annexe.
The fresco appears to depict a round focaccia bread on a silver tray serving as a support for various fruits, including a pomegranate and possibly a date.
The dish seems to lack two essential ingredients of modern Italian pizza, tomato and mozzarella.
As for the cheese, experts say the bread is seasoned with spices or moretum, a herb cheese spread eaten by the ancient Romans.
Gino Sorbillo, owner of one of the oldest pizzerias in Naples, who is convinced that the image in the Pompeii fresco is, in fact, a pizza. “In ancient Pompeii we already knew that there were forms of flatbread, made with grains, water, salt and maybe beer as a leavening agent,” he said. “Then they might have topped it with vegetables or the fish of the day … it was an ancient form of pizza.”
He added that fruit might have been considered more of a main dish during the ancient Roman period. When it comes to fruit on pizza in modern times, he said: “You can use fruit, for example figs, or strawberries, if it’s a sweet pizza.”
Source: The Guardian
