If an American orders a “pizza” pie in Italy what are they going to get? Something similar to, or very different from, a typical US thick or thin crust pizza?
From what I hear in Italy pizzas are all like our small size. They don’t have any big pizzas at all. Italians are suprised when they see big pizzas in the US.
My understanding is that Italian pizzas traditionally are something closer to what Americans would call white pizza. Never been, though, so this is second-hand.
Do Italians refer to pizza as “pie”? Or is that purely a NYC thing?
Yeah usually a pizza is “personal size” and is topped with veggies and/or herbs, olive oil and cheeses. Usually fresh mozzarella and sometimes other fresh cheeses. You wouldn’t see the shredded freeze dried mozzarella you see here in the states. Also, no tomato sauce (but tomatoes are ok).
Italian pizzas are really thin, crispy and very modest. I don’t recall it having pizza sauce but I don’t recall it NOT having the sauce either. The one we ate had cheese and various meats that were lightly scattered throughout the pizza.
Pizza is regionally different in Italy just like it is here in the states, at least from my experience, although for the most part it is very thin, with an almost cracker-like crust. The pizza in Rome had thicker, heavier red sauce than the pizza in Florence, which had more toppings per slice than the pizza in Siena. It’s rare to find pizza with more than one topping (most pizza I had seemed to have cheese and something else, or two non-cheese toppings). I guess it also depends on where you get it; mine was mostly takeaway pizza rather than sit down in a restaurant pizza. Slices are sold by weight not size and takeaway pizza is made in a large rectangle and then cut up into pieces for customers. Some pizzas are similar (with sausage, with mushrooms, etc.), margherita pizza is common (white pizza with basil and tomatoes), and I saw pizza with corn and pizza with seafood (which in my experience aren’t common toppings in the US).
I think it depends on the region, and what type of pizza. I have had “pizza” from small stands in Rome that is more like a sandwich (sliced bread, spread, topping) and pizza that is very similar to NY style. In Avezzano, the pizza looked like NY style, but with fewer toppings and instead of a liquid sauce, they put tomato, olive oil, and spice under the cheese which made for a very chunky sauce.
Jonathan
Mmmmm Italian pizza sounds really good. But why?! Why must obnoxious new yorkers call them pies? Its a bloody pizza! A pie has apples and whipped cream in it, you guys deserve to have NJ right next to you.
When we went to Venice, my daughter wanted pepperoni pizza. The waiter was very good about explaining that she didn’t really want “pepperoni pizza,” she wanted “salami (salame) pizza”. Salame is our pepperoni in Venice, pepperoni are bell or hot peppers.
Having lived in Italy for several years; the main difference is the crust. Very thin and toasted like taste. Most pizzerias have a wood oven for baking. You can get simple toppings; cheese and a light sauce, or order as many toppings as you like. I’m partial to 4-cheese (quatro formaggi) or ricotta and spinach. As mentioned, salamino picante is US pepperoni (hot salami). Pizza Italia is red, white, and green. Usually sliced Roma or cherry tomatoes for the red portion, ricotta/Philadelphia/or buffalo (bufalla - fresh mozzarella) is the white, various veggies are the green portion (arugula, spinach, etc…). Other topping include fruits, eggplant, squashes, onions, clams, shrimp (fruita de mare - seafood variety).
Size is “depends”. Some have a “grande” large size. A couple of places I go around Vicenza (when not in the stinking desert) serve large ones as the standard (it’s all you want for most people). Most are 9 to 12 inch but again, the crust is very light. Unless you ask, it comes unsliced. You can have them do 1/2 with one set of topping and the other 1/2 different if you wish to split.
How nice of you to say, I suppose the New Yorkers DO deserve to be next to the home of the best [del]pizza[/del] Tomato Pie makers in the world (Trenton, NJ to be precise). 
In my experience, generally:
[ul]
[li]Thin crust.[/li][li]Individual sized - although some are large-ish, by being very thin they are intended to be individual sized.[/li][li]Uncut.[/li][li]Usually a single topping (after the sauce and cheese) - not the “everything/garbage” style we see in the US.[/li][li]More unsual toppings - my friend always always had salmon pizza.[/li][/ul]
At least in Sienna and Florence, the same thing that Icarus (and others) said. In Milan you can get what amounts to a Pizza Hut one topping pie. Pizza, incidently, tends to be a light lunch, not a whole evening meal. Eaten on some sunny plaza at a common table with several dozen other lunchers it is a cultural experience.
For those in NY, I understand Mario Batali’s place is pretty authentic. I went once and the crust was cracker thin.
You might be interested inthis article from the Toronto Star, Jan. 7, 2009. Apparently, the Neapolitans think there’s quite a difference…
In Venice, anyway, if you order olives on a pizza, they’ll be whole and have pits in them.
If you order horse on a pizza, it’ll be these weird little dried shreds.
Seconding what everyone says, thin crust, plate-sized, and you eat it with a knife and fork.
(And ‘tomato pie’? That’s just stupid.)
Like others have said, the crust is like a cracker. We found out the hard way that sauce and cheese are NOT a given when ordering pizza in Rome. A spinach and mushroom pizza is just that: a crust with spinach and mushrooms on it.
New York style at the non-slice places can be fairly close to a Neopolitan pizza. Some NY pizzerias such as Una Pizza Napoletana or La Pizza Fresca, and a handful of other places around the country do have a fairly authentic pizza. But that’s Naples-style, with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese, and basil (for a basic pie). Rome and other places in Italy I have no idea about. Based on the comments above, it seems quite different. There are some places in New York that serve that style too, such as the renamed Sullivan Street Bakery.
Chicago stuffed pizza is based on an completely different Italian food, some sort of Easter Spinach Pie.
Just a little nitpick: I wouldn’t necessarily refer to Italian-style pizza as being more “authentic” than the alternative; pizza is as much an American food as it is Italian.
Good point. People arguing on the authenticity of this pizza or that is kind of a moot point…plus, pizza probably evolved from Greek or other Mediterranean or even Middle Eastern food…I’m sure it occurred to someone waaaaay back there to make something akin to a pizza and you can probably find a similar dish in many cuisines.