Pizza[a][1] is an Italian dish typically consisting of a flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven.

The term pizza was first recorded in 997 AD, in a Latin manuscript from the southern Italian town of Gaeta, in Lazio, on the border with Campania.

[13] The oldest recorded usage of the word pizza is thought to be from May 997 CE, appearing in the Codex diplomaticus Caietanus, a notarial Latin document from the town of Gaeta, then still part of the Byzantine Empire.

[28][29] An early reference to a pizza-like food occurs in the Aeneid, when Celaeno, queen of the Harpies, foretells that the Trojans would not find peace until they are forced by hunger to eat their tables (Book III).

In Book VII, Aeneas and his men are served a meal that includes round cakes (such as pita bread) topped with cooked vegetables.

[30] In 2023, archeologists discovered a fresco in Pompeii appearing to depict a pizza-like dish among other foodstuffs and staples on a silver platter.

[37] Later research cast doubt on this legend, undermining the authenticity of the letter of recognition, pointing that no media of the period reported about the supposed visit and that both the story and name Margherita were first promoted in the 1930s–1940s.

[43] In 2009, upon Italy's request, Neapolitan pizza was registered with the European Union as a traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG) dish,[44][45] and in 2017 the art of its making was included on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

Methods have been developed to overcome challenges such as preventing the sauce from combining with the dough, and producing a crust that can be frozen and reheated without becoming rigid.

Some grocery stores sell fresh dough along with sauce and basic ingredients, to assemble at home before baking in an oven.

Authentic Neapolitan pizza (Italian: pizza napoletana) is made with San Marzano tomatoes, grown on the volcanic plains south of Mount Vesuvius, and either mozzarella di bufala campana, made with milk from water buffalo raised in the marshlands of Campania and Lazio,[55] or fior di latte.

[65] Common toppings for pizza in the United States include anchovies, ground beef, chicken, ham, mushrooms, olives, onions, peppers, pepperoni, pineapple, salami, sausage, spinach, steak, and tomatoes.

Distinct regional types developed in the 20th century, including Buffalo,[66] California, Chicago, Detroit, Greek, New Haven, New York, and St. Louis styles.

[67] These regional variations include deep-dish, stuffed, pockets, turnovers, rolled, and pizza-on-a-stick, each with seemingly limitless combinations of sauce and toppings.

Argentine pizza is a mainstay of the country's cuisine,[69] especially of its capital Buenos Aires, where it is regarded as a cultural heritage and icon of the city.

[75] The impoverished Italian immigrants that arrived to the city transformed the originally modest dish into a much more hefty meal, motivated by the abundance of food in Argentina.

[73][76] In the 1930s, pizza was cemented as a cultural icon in Buenos Aires, with the new pizzerias becoming a central space for sociability for the working class people who flocked to the city.

[76][75] The most characteristic style of Argentine pizza—which almost all the classic pizzerias in Buenos Aires specialize in—is the so-called pizza de molde (Spanish for 'pizza in the pan'), characterized by having a "thick, spongy base and elevated bready crust".

is identified as the typical style of Argentine pizza—characterized by a thick crust and a large amount of cheese—arose when impoverished Italian immigrants found a greater abundance of food in then-prosperous Argentina, which motivated them to transform the originally modest dish into a much more hefty meal suitable for a main course.

[78] Most pizza menus include standard flavor combinations, including the traditional plain mozzarella, nicknamed "muza" or "musa"; the napolitana or "napo", with "cheese, sliced tomatoes, garlic, dried oregano and a few green olives", not to be confused with Neapolitan pizza;[71] calabresa, with slices of longaniza;[79] jamon y morrones, with sliced ham and roasted bell peppers;[71] as well as versions with provolone, with anchovies,[79] with hearts of palm, or with chopped hard boiled egg.

[71] A typical custom that is unique to Buenos Aires is to accompany pizza with fainá, a pancake made from chickpea flour.