Pizza fritta is a deep-fried pocket of risen dough stuffed with ricotta, cicoli (pressed pork scratchings), provola and black pepper, fried in hot lard or oil until blistered and golden, served folded in paper.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Pizza fritta became the street food of post-war Naples when wood-fired ovens were scarce and lard was cheap; vendors fried pizzas on portable stoves in the Quartieri Spagnoli and the Sanita. Sofia Loren famously sold pizza fritta in the 1954 film L'Oro di Napoli, shot on location in the city. The pavement-fried format survives today in counters such as Pizzeria di Matteo and Sorbillo Lievito Madre, often eaten standing up in folded paper.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Pork
Tip from the editors. Draining the ricotta overnight is not optional; excess moisture blows the seal open in the oil.
Di Matteo on Via dei Tribunali in Naples runs the sit-down pizza room and the streetside fritta window to midnight daily, the Centro Storico's most reliable.
Try: Pizza margherita, pizza fritta
Tip: Open daily 10:00-24:00. The window closes at midnight; the sit-down room closes slightly earlier. Cash preferred at the window.
Sorbillo Lievito Madre on Via dei Tribunali in Naples is the Sorbillo family's street counter, selling pizza fritta at 4 euros without the sit-down queue.
Try: Pizza fritta
Tip: No ticket needed; walk up and order. Pizza fritta classic 4 euros, ripiena (stuffed) 5 euros.
Starita in Naples' Materdei has fired the wood ovens since 1901 and runs the kitchen until midnight on weekdays and 02:00 on weekends, the original.
Try: Montanara fried pizza, margherita
Tip: Closed Monday lunch; open Tue-Sun 12:00-24:00 and Fri-Sat to 02:00. The montanara fried pizza 4 euros from the takeaway window.
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