Tandem on Via Paladino in Naples is the modern trattoria built entirely around the Neapolitan Sunday ragu: paccheri, ziti spezzati and the bread-dunking ritual, daily noon to 24:00.
Must order: Paccheri al ragu napoletano, then bread to mop the sauce. Polpettone for the table.
Tip: No bookings; arrive 12:30 or 19:30 for the shortest queue. Three Tandem rooms share the carte.
Address: Via Paladino 51, 80138 Napoli, Naples
Di Matteo on Via dei Tribunali in Naples has fried pizza, frittatine and crocchè from the streetside window since 1936; Bill Clinton's 1994 lunch stop is in the legend.
Order: Pizza fritta from the window, pizza margherita inside and crocchè di patate.
Tip: Open daily 10:00 to 24:00. Cash preferred at the window; sit-down service runs upstairs.
Da Michele in Naples' Forcella has baked margherita and marinara since 1870, the city's defining pizza counter. The Eat Pray Love queue still wraps the block at 13:00.
Order: Pizza margherita and pizza marinara, the only two on the carte for 150 years.
Tip: Take a numbered ticket from the door and wait outside. Margherita is 5 euros 50; cash preferred.
Starita in Naples' Materdei has run the wood ovens since 1901, with the montanara fried pizza (Sophia Loren's screen choice) the unmissable order alongside the classic margherita.
Order: Montanara fried pizza, margherita and angioletti dough fritters to start.
Tip: Closed Monday lunch; otherwise daily 12:00 to 24:00. No bookings; arrive 12:30 or 19:30 for the shortest queue.
Di Matteo on Via dei Tribunali in Naples has fried pizza, frittatine and crocchè from the streetside window since 1936; Bill Clinton's 1994 lunch stop is in the legend.
Order: Pizza fritta from the window, pizza margherita inside and crocchè di patate.
Tip: Open daily 10:00 to 24:00. Cash preferred at the window; sit-down service runs upstairs.
Salumeria Upnea on Vomero in Naples is the deli-bistro hybrid pouring Campania natural wines, with salumi-and-cheese boards and a daily-changing pasta from the kitchen behind the counter.
Order: The salumi flight, pasta alla genovese, caciocavallo impiccato with grilled bread.
Tip: Closed Monday. Open daily 12:00 to 23:00 otherwise. Walk-in counter; bookings for the back room.
Da Ettore in Naples' Santa Lucia has invented the pagnottiello (stuffed pizza-bread sandwich) since 1955, plus a full carte of seafood pastas and the canonical pizza margherita.
Order: Pagnottiello stuffed with prosciutto and provola, spaghetti alle vongole.
Tip: Closed Sunday all day. Book ahead for weekends; pagnottiello runs around 9 euros.
Brandi off Via Toledo in Naples claims the 1889 invention of the pizza margherita by Raffaele Esposito for Queen Margherita of Savoy. The queen's thank-you letter hangs in the dining room.
Order: Pizza margherita, the canonical version named for the queen in 1889.
Tip: Open daily 12:00 to 15:30 and 19:00 to 24:00. Book ahead for groups; the original Esposito plaque sits at the entrance.
