Pizza is now a worldwide phenomenon, but Italy remains the best place to eat it. The creations served up here - especially in the city where pizza started, Naples - are wholly different from the soggy concoctions that have taken over the international fast-food market. Everywhere in Italy pizza comes thin and flat, not deep-pan, and the choice of toppings is fairly limited, with none of the dubious pineapple and sweetcorn variations. It's easy to find pizzas cooked in the traditional way, in wood-fired ovens ( forno a legna ) rather than the squeaky-clean electric ones, so that the pizzas arrive blasted and bubbling on the surface and with a distinctive charcoal taste.

Pizzerias range from a stand-up counter selling slices to a fully fledged sit-down restaurant, and on the whole they don't sell much else besides pizza, soft drinks and beer. Some straight restaurants often have pizza on the menu, too.

A basic cheese and tomato pizza ( margherita ) costs around £6000-8000/?3.10-4.13 (sometimes less in the south, often more in the north), a fancier variety £8000-15,000/?4.13-7.75, and it's quite acceptable to cut it into slices and eat it with your fingers.

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Italy food and drink
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