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The timeline of pizza can be traced back to ancient civilizations like the Greeks & Romans who consumed flatbreads topped with olive oil and spices.
However, modern pizza as we know it today emerged in Naples, Italy in the late 18th century, eventually spreading globally and evolving into countless regional variations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
Persian soldiers bake flatbreads with cheese and dates on their battle shields.
Citizens make a flatbread called "plakous" with toppings like herbs, onion, cheese, and garlic.
The Aeneid mentions a pizza-like food eaten by Trojans.
Focaccia, an ancient Italian flatbread with roots tracing back to the Etruscans and Roman panis focacius, has evolved into numerous regional variants, including the peculiar focaccia con il formaggio from Recco that sandwiches cheese between paper-thin dough layers. And the intriguing "piada dei morti" from Rimini, a sweet version traditionally eaten on All Souls' Day and topped with an assortment of nuts and raisins.
The word "pizza" was first documented in 997 AD in Gaeta, Italy, appearing in a Latin manuscript called the Codex diplomaticus Caietanus. This document described a feudal agreement where a local bishop was to receive twelve pizzas as rent payment for land that included a vineyard and mill.
The tomato, originally from the Americas, was introduced to Europe in the 16th century by Spanish conquistadors returning from Mexico, initially met with suspicion due to its relation to poisonous nightshades, but gradually gained acceptance and became a culinary staple across the continent.
In late 18th century Naples, the once-shunned tomato became a culinary sensation among the poor, leading to the creation of modern pizza. It ironically gained popularity in America before Italy..
Established in 1738 as a street vendor stand and opened as a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 1830, Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba in Naples is widely considered the world's first pizzeria, featuring ovens lined with lava rocks from Mount Vesuvius. It had a unique "pizza a otto" payment system that allowed customers to pay up to eight days after their meal, leading to the local joke that it might be someone's last free meal if they died before paying.
Alexandre Dumas describes the diversity of pizza toppings in Naples.
The pizza Margherita, traditionally believed to have been created in 1889 for Queen Margherita of Italy, actually evolved from earlier Neapolitan pizzas in the early 19th century, with its iconic combination of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil documented as early as 1849—long before the questionable royal origin story that wasn't widely promoted until the 1930s-1940s.
Lombardi's Pizza, founded in 1905 and recognized as the first pizzeria in the United States, has a colorful history that includes serving Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, offering 5-cent pizzas for its 100th and 110th anniversaries, and having an owner named as a captain in the Genovese crime family It also claims to being America's oldest pizzeria is disputed due to a 10-year closure and recent research suggesting its true founder might be Filippo Milone rather than Gennaro Lombardi.
Joe's Tomato Pies opens in Trenton, New Jersey.
Papa's Tomato Pies opens in Trenton, New Jersey.
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana opens in New Haven, Connecticut.
Pizza begins spreading beyond Italian immigrant communities in the US.
Chicago-style pizza, born in 1943 at Pizzeria Uno with a surprising dough recipe including scalded milk and sugar, evolved into various styles including the tavern-style thin-crust (cut in squares for lack of plates in bars)—and the stuffed pizza (inspired by an Italian Easter pie), with deep-dish becoming so thick it requires utensils to eat.
First pizzeria in Canada, Pizzeria Napoletana, opens in Montreal.
Shakey's Pizza, founded in 1954 by a man nicknamed "Shakey" due to nerve damage from malaria, became the first franchise pizza chain in the US. It famously offered live Dixieland jazz performances and beer before their pizza ovens were even installed. It later expaned globally with the Philippines becoming its largest market—and at one point was owned by a company infamous for attempting to corner the silver market.
Pizza Hut is founded in Wichita, Kansas.
Little Caesars, founded in 1959 by Mike and Marian Ilitch, grew from a single store in Garden City, Michigan to become the third-largest pizza chain in the US—known for its "Pizza! Pizza!" slogan, innovative "Hot-N-Ready" concept, and once filling the largest pizza order in history with 13,386 pizzas for a single company.
Domino's Pizza founded in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Greek-Canadian Sam Panopoulos invented Hawaiian pizza in Ontario in 1962, inspired by Chinese sweet-and-savory dishes. It eventually sparked global controversy that culminated in 2017 when Iceland's president jokingly suggested banning it, prompting Canada's Prime Minister to defend this "delicious Southwestern Ontario creation" on Twitter.
Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (True Neapolitan Pizza Association) founded to protect traditional Neapolitan pizza-making methods.
California Pizza Kitchen, founded in 1985 by attorneys Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax who borrowed $200,000 and raised $350,000 from friends, became an instant hit with its innovative BBQ Chicken Pizza developed by Ed LaDou, Wolfgang Puck's former pizza chef at Spago.
Papa John's, founded in 1984 by John Schnatter in a converted broom closet of his father's tavern, grew into a global pizza empire with over 5,000 locations. Weathering controversies like Schnatter's use of a racial slur and subsequent resignation, a $250 million spam lawsuit—and in 2010, someone paid 10,000 bitcoins (worth over $300 million today) for two Papa John's pizzas in what is considered the first real-world cryptocurrency transaction.
Neapolitan pizza granted Protected Designation of Origin status by the European Union.
Pizza-making in Naples recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.
In January 2023, Pizza Hut set a new Guinness World Record for the world's largest pizza, creating a massive 13,990-square-foot pepperoni pie at the Los Angeles Convention Center that used over 13,653 pounds of dough, nearly 5,000 pounds of sauce, and an astonishing 630,496 pieces of pepperoni.
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