Naples pizza-making wins Unesco heritage status

The art of Naples’ dough-twirling pizza makers joined Unesco’s list of "intangible heritage" on Thursday, securing the coveted status alongside a host of cultural treasures including a Saudi art form traditionally practised only by women.

The art of the ‘pizzaiuolo’ -- handed down for generations in the southern Italian city -- was given the nod by the UN cultural body’s World Heritage Committee, who met on the South Korean island of Jeju.

Two million people had signed a petition to support Naples’ application, according to Sergio Miccu, head of the Association of Neapolitan Pizzaiuoli -- no doubt buoyed by his offer of complimentary pizza if the age-old culinary tradition joined the prestigious list.

"We’ll be giving out free pizza in the streets," Miccu earlier told AFP. Proud pizza-makers in Naples celebrated even before the distinction was announced on Thursday, pounding the dough and handing pizzas out to passersby who chewed it up in celebration.

"How perfect to celebrate with pizza for breakfast. The word pizza must be the most famous in the world, in every language, and now everyone knows we invented it!" said Marco Toeldo, 47, who was on his third slice.

The Neapolitan custom goes far beyond the pizzaiuolo’s spectacular handling of the dough -- hurling it into the air in order to "oxygenate" it to include songs and stories that have turned pizza-making into a time honoured social ritual.

"Victory!" Maurizio Martina, Italy’s minister for agriculture, food and forestry, wrote on Twitter. "Another step towards the protection of Italy’s food and wine heritage." In a statement, Martina said the recognition came after a years-long campaign. "The art of the Neapolitan pizza-maker contains Italian know-how ... especially traditional knowledge that has been transmitted from generation to generation," he said.

The pizza’s humble ancestor, a plain affair usually tarted up with a bit of lard, initially emerged as a cheap, easy and fast way to feed the city’s army of poor, said historian Antonio Mattozzi. But despite being an immediate hit with the locals, pizza failed to take off outside the city at first, Mattozzi told AFP.

It took Queen Margherita’s love of the classic tomato, mozzarella and basil version to fire up the imagination and taste buds of diners far and wide -- or so the story goes. Hoping to win the hearts of the commoners, the Italian queen asked in 1889 to try their favourite dish. And while she was unconvinced by anchovy and Parmesan-topped versions, the basil delight won her over.