Why Manchester Is Celebrated for World-Class Neapolitan Pizza
Of all the pizza styles to choose from, Neapolitan is the one that keeps people coming back for more. What many diners consider “a culinary masterpiece” started off in Naples but its appeal has spread beyond Italy, built on nothing more complicated than a handful of the finest ingredients and a tradition that’s barely changed in centuries While every pizza lover’s bucket list should include eating a slice of Neapolitan in its birthplace, head to the North of England and you’ll find that pizza in Manchester is considered one of the best in the UK, with pizzerias using traditional Naples-built wood ovens, San Marzano tomatoes and 48-hour fermented dough to produce authentic and premium pizza that will keep you coming back for more.
What makes Neapolitan pizza so unique
Nearly 10 years ago, UNESCO did something unexpected when it recognised the craft of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo as Intangible Cultural Heritage, putting it on the same list as French gastronomy and Belgian beer culture. What’s interesting is that the honour wasn’t only about the pizza itself but the skill behind it including the hand-stretching, the speed of the bake and the years of knowledge passed down from one pizzaiolo to the next. And that skill comes with rules that are stricter than you’d expect. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana allows just four ingredients in the dough: Caputo 00 flour, water, salt and yeast. The dough gets stretched by hand – it is never rolled because that flattens out all the air pockets that built up while it was fermenting. It then goes into a wood-fired oven blasting away at 430 to 500 degrees Celsius for about 90 seconds. It is this short and brutal heat which produces the charred, leopard-spotted rim – the puffy cornicione – that makes a Neapolitan pizza instantly recognisable. Toppings are kept simple too. A proper margherita is just San Marzano DOP tomatoes, Fior di Latte mozzarella, fresh basil and olive oil. If you’re used to a thicker, denser pizza base, that first bite can genuinely throw you: soft enough to fold in half, light and a little chewy. If Naples is already on your radar as you plan out the best foodie destinations in Europe, this is exactly the kind of thing worth knowing before you go.
Spotlight review: Pizza Pilgrims
When Pizza Pilgrims Manchester launched last year, it felt like more than just another opening. For founders James and Thom Elliot, both born and raised in the city, it was practically a homecoming. The pair built their whole brand off the back of a 2011 road trip through southern Italy in a three-wheeled Piaggio Ape, picking up the secrets of Neapolitan pizza-making along the way, so bringing that knowledge back to their hometown feels like the story coming full circle. The space itself is worth the visit on its own. Two floors, 140 seats, a mezzanine and a masterclass kitchen upstairs where diners can have a go at stretching their own dough (harder than it looks). There’s a mural by Manchester artist Stanley Chow that ties the whole room together, a fitting tribute to the things Manchester and Naples have in common: food and football. As for what comes out of the kitchen, they don’t cut corners. They use double-fermented dough, DOP San Marzano tomatoes and proper Fior di Latte mozzarella from Campania, all cooked at a blisteringly high temperature to achieve that chewy, light base. The menu goes from a classic margherita all the way up into genuinely indulgent territory. On paper, the decadent Carbonara pizza, with guanciale, pecorino, spaghetti and egg yolk, sounds like it shouldn’t work but it absolutely does. And if that’s not enough cheese for you, there’s the 8-Cheese, which throws in gorgonzola DOP, buffalo mozzarella, ricotta salata and burrata for good measure.
Why add Manchester to your food and travel list
Manchester is also one of the UK’s easiest cities to build a long weekend around. Beyond its restaurants, you’ll find world-class museums, live music, football, independent shopping and one of the country’s most vibrant nightlife scenes, all within a compact, walkable city centre. The city also makes an excellent base for exploring the North of England. The rugged landscapes of the Peak District National Park are less than an hour away, while day trips to the historic spa town of Buxton, the market towns of Cheshire, the Yorkshire Dales, Liverpool and the Lake District are all within easy reach. Whether you’re planning a city break or a wider Northern England itinerary, Manchester offers the rare combination of outstanding food, culture and easy access to some of Britain’s most beautiful countryside.
