June 3 – Happy Birthday Margherita! Italy’s most famous pizza, a symbol of Made in Italy in the world, turns 125. In June 1889, the head chef of the Royal House, Camillo Galli, summoned chef Raffaele Esposito of Pizzeria Brandi at Capodimonte Palace, the summer residence of the royal family, to prepare for Her Majesty the Queen Margherita a special pizza. And now Coldiretti commemorates the anniversary, stressing how the toppings (tomato, mozzarella and basil) represented the Italian flag. 39% of Italians believe that pizza is the culinary symbol of Italy (according to a survey on www.coldiretti.it); and “pizza” is the most famous Italian word abroad (according to an online survey of the Compagnia Dante Alighieri). “Pizza Margherita is by far everyone’s favorite pizza, consumed more in the US than elsewhere in the world (13kg per person per year), almost double the consumption rate in Italy (7.6kg per person per year). In the U.S. – affirms Coldiretti – the pizza industry is worth $40 billion with 93% of Americans who consume it at least once a month for an average of 350 “slices” per second. In Italy it is estimated that pizza generates a turnover of €10 billion, with over 250.000 employed people and 50.000 pizzerias.
