Nowhere is known for their pizza quite like Italy, but now a town is making the bold move to ban the pizza ovens there for environmental reasons.
San Vitaliano is a town east of Naples, and while it only has 600 residents apparently there is a big problem with pollution. The town has exceeded the appropriate levels of smog 100 times in the past year, so they needed to make a change and it looks like pizza is taking the fall.
Businesses are currently being banned from using their wood-fire pizza ovens without a special filter attached to it that will cut down on the pollution. Anyone caught using a wood-fire pizza oven without the filter can be fined for $1130. The police will be making their rounds throughout the rest of the winter to make sure that people are complying to the new law.
Of course the business owners are not thrilled, so making pizza is what many of them do best. There was actually a protest at town hall where people claimed that the smog could not be blamed for the pizza ovens, since the town of Naples actually has more pizza ovens but less smog.
This is not the first time that Italy has passed laws about the pizza ovens and their link with pollution, and in the United States they are assumed to be a problem with pollution as well.
There are a variety of pizza types that are made in Italy these days, but they are always cooked in the wood fire ovens. Popular options can vary by region. The Marinara is a traditional Neapolitan pizza that is made with cheese, anchovies, oregano, and garlic. The pizza Capricciosa is topped with mushrooms, prosciutto, artichoke hearts, olives and a boiled egg.
The pizzas that are made Sicily have a lot of varieties and can have different topping options such as green olives, seafood, hard-boiled eggs, and peas.
The pizza Pugliese is topped with capers and olives that can be found locally, and the Veronese pizza is topped with mushrooms and prosciutto. Pizza is a huge part of the Italian culture so it will be interesting to see what happens with this current law and moving forward.