Pizza was born in Naples, where the delicacy is made in a wood-fired oven with buffalo milk-based mozzarella. Based in Naples with locations across Italy and Europe, Fratelli la Bufala is introducing Americans to true Neapolitan pizza with its United States debut in Miami Beach.
Miami, FL – In big cities and small towns across the United States, Americans spent millions of dollars every week for what is arguably the nation’s most popular food – pizza. Yet very few have experienced the savory taste of what is renowned around the world as the most authentic pizza anywhere.
Pizza was first created in Naples, Italy, and Fratelli L Bufala - a Neapolitan restaurant that is found across Italy and Europe – recently made its United States debut in Miami Beach with a menu that features Naples-style pizza prepared in a wood-fired brick oven by trained pizzaiolos and mozzarella di bufala, which is made from buffalo milk and imported twice a week from the Campania region of Italy.
Fratelli La Bufala has more than 20 locations across Italy and Europe, serving more than 3,000 people per day. Its flagship restaurant in Naples seats 300 people. The company operates a pizza school in Naples, where chefs come to learn the secrets of dough, sauces and toppings.
“Fratelli La Bufala has a tradition of recruiting, training and nurturing the talent of pizzaiolos,” said Luca D’ Angelo, a partner at Fratelli La Bufala. “We have a team of more than 50 pizzaiolos who rotate across the different locations, according to where they are needed. They travel the world with a mission to educate people about what we believe is the best pizza in the world.”
Fratelli La Bufala’s pizza reflects the rich tradition of Neapolitan pizza that dates back to the 17th century. Pizza took its present-day form in pre-Renaissance Naples, which is located in southern Italy. Poor peasants used their limited ingredients (wheat flour, olive oil, lard, cheese and natural herbs) to make a seasoned, flat bread garnished with cheese.
The world's first true pizzeria, "Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba", opened in 1830 and is still in business today at Via Port'Alba 18 in Naples. Pizzerias in this era usually included a large brick oven, a marble counter where the crust was prepared, and a shelf lined with ingredients. Contemporary Neapolitan pizzerias are prepared in the same way they were 100 years ago. The large brick ovens make the pizzerias uncomfortably hot in every season except winter, but the unique flavor of these brick-oven pizzas is unmatched. Pizzaioli (makers of pizza) often assemble the entire pizza on a marble counter right before the customer's eyes.
While most Mediterranean cuisines have some form of flatbread—and have had for centuries— it was in Naples that that the pizza developed into something approximating the tomato-and-cheese-topped slabs of dough that Americans now eat by the millions.
Neapolitans were among the first Europeans to take to the tomato, a fruit introduced from the New World and widely thought to be poisonous. The Campania region was also home to herds of bufala, water buffalo imported from India, and had developed a cheese, mozzarella di bufala, from their milk.
The bread, the tomato, and the cheese, along with a sprinkling of basil, found their calling in 1871 when a restaurateur, Raffaele Esposito, had the idea of combining them in honor of Princess Margherita of Savoy. The tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil duplicated the colors of the flag of the recently unified Italian state.
Pizza alla Margherita, the direct ancestor of the modern pizza, was brought to America by Italian immigrants in the late 19th century and has become, along with the hamburger and hot dog, one of America’s national foods.
Neapolitans take their pizza so seriously that they have formed an association, Verace Pizza Napoletana, to preserve the standards of Neapolitan pizza. The rules for authentic Neapolitan pizza serve primarily to guarantee its simplicity. The dough can be made only with finely ground flour, yeast, and water, and it must be shaped by hand, without the use of a rolling pin. The pizza must be cooked on the floor of a wood-burning oven, not in a pan.
Only four variations are allowed: the Margherita, with tomato, olive oil, grated Parmesan, and mozzarella; the Marinara, with tomato, olive oil, oregano, and garlic; formaggio e pomodoro, with tomato, olive oil, and grated Parmesan; and the ripieno, a calzone filled with ricotta or mozzarella, olive oil, and salami. “All types of pizza,” the rules say, “are agreeable to basil leaves.” Neapolitan pizza ingredients also may include items like fried eggplants, prosciutto di parma and anchovies.
Fratelli La Bufala stays true to the Neapolitan way of making pizza.
“In all our restaurants, we have the same structure (such as the brick oven) of the traditional pizzerias you can find only in Naples,” D’Angelo said. “This includes the pizzaiolo that demonstrates his craft right across from the customers.”
Fratelli La Bufala also owns a factory outside of Naples that produces bufala di mozzarella among other buffalo milk-based cheeses.
At its location in Miami Beach, Fratelli La Bufala is introducing many residents and visitors alike to authentic Neapolitan pizza, buffalo meats and mozzarella di bufala.
“Italian cuisine is based on the goodness of the natural product. We use only the best quality ingredients,” said Adelchi Mancusi, who is general manager of Fratelli la Bufala in Miami Beach. “Pizza-making is an art; you need passion to make pizza. It's all in the dough and the rolling technique which has developed over hundreds of years.”
A true Neapolitan pizza must be cooked in a wood-fired oven and the final product must be soft, elastic and easy to fold in two, according to guidelines from the European Union Traditional Pizza Association. It is characterized by its raised, golden crust, soft to the touch and to the lips with the red of the tomato visible through the white spots of the mozzarella – the style found at Fratelli La Bufala.
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