The history of food items which may have served as the roots of modern pizzacan be traced to the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia (southern Italy). Suchproducts arguably have their first written mention in Book VII of Virgil'sAeneid:

Their homely fare dispatch’d, the hungry band Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour,
To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour. Ascanius this observ’d, and smiling said:


“S e e , w e d e v o u r t h e p l a t e
s o n w h i c h w e f e d. ”



In the 3rd century BC, the first history of Rome, written by Marcus Porcius Cato, mentions a "flat round of dough dressed with olive oil, herbs, andhoney baked on stones". Further evidence is found in Pompeii, the city "frozenin time" since AD 79, where archaeologists have excavated shops that closely resemble modern pizzerias.

Though several kinds of flat bread made with flour, often cooked with oil and spices, were familiar to ancient Romans and popular in all the Mediterranean area, they were considerably different from pizza as it is known today. The tomato was still unknown in Europe and the Indian water buffalo, whose milk is used to make the real mozzarella cheese, had not yet been imported toCampania, the area around Napoli (Naples). The crust of pizza is very similarto focaccia bread common in Italian cuisine today.

See Part #2