Pizza is a traditional Italian dish typically consisting of a flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven.
A pizza divided into eight slices
A pizzaiolo in 1830
Pizza dough being kneaded before being left undisturbed and allowed time to proof
Traditional pizza dough being tossed
Italian cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed in Italy since Roman times and later spread around the world together with waves of Italian diaspora. Some of these foods were imported from other cultures. Significant changes occurred with the colonization of the Americas and the introduction of potatoes, tomatoes, capsicums, maize and sugar beet—the latter introduced in quantity in the 18th century. It is one of the best-known and most appreciated gastronomies worldwide.
Clockwise from top left; some of the most popular Italian foods: Neapolitan pizza, carbonara, espresso, and gelato
A Roman mosaic depicting a banquet during a hunting trip, from the Late Roman Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily
A restored medieval kitchen inside Verrucole Castle, Tuscany
Saffron has been used in Italy for centuries.