Pizza in Naples may be baked using coffin
wood
Posted: 18 May 2010 0850 hrs
ROME : Italian prosecutors believe pizza in the southern
city of Naples may be baked in ovens lit with wood from coffins dug
up from the local cemetery, Italian daily Il Giornale reported on
Monday.
"Pizza, one of the few symbols of Naples that resists... is hit by
the concrete suspicion that it could be baked with wood from
coffins," Il Giornale said.
Investigators in Naples are setting their sights on the thousands
of small, lower-end pizza shops and bakeries that dot the city on
suspicion that patrons may "use wood from caskets to keep ovens
burning."
Naples' graveyard has long been hunting ground for thieves: last
year, 5,000 flower pots were stolen from the cemetery.
"A gang might have set up a market for coffins sold to hard-hearted
owners of bakeries and pizzerias looking to save money on wood," Il
Giornale said.
Neapolitan pizza was invented between 1715 and 1725, with the
world-famous Margherita variant first cooked up in 1889.
Tradition has it that queen Margherita of Savoy asked one of
Naples' famed pizzaioli to come up with a dish for the
people.
The result, which provides the basis for most pizzas enjoyed around
the world, represented the colours of recently unified Italy: green
basil, white mozzarella and red tomatoes.
Italy's estimated 25,000 pizzerias employ around 150,000 people and
account for a turnover of 5.3 billion euros (6.5 billion
dollars).
