The first Italian pizza restaurant, Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba, began baking pizzas in 1738 as the dish grew in popularity, especially with tourists visiting Naples. Then, in 1889, modern pizza was born when pizzamaker Raffaele Esposito created the “Pizza Margherita” for the Queen consort of Italy, Margherita of Savoy.

While it has come to be a famous dish all over the world, some say its story began in a narrow alley in Naples. According to the popular legend, the pizza Margherita was invented in 1889 by Raffaele Esposito, chef at Pizzeria Brandi.

Pizza became as popular as it did in part because of the sheer number of Italian immigrants: they made up 4 million of the 20 million immigrants who came to the U.S. between 1880 and 1920. With them, they brought their taste buds and pizza-making skills.

Modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, between the 16th and mid-18th century. The word pizza was first documented in AD 997 in Gaeta and successively in different parts of Central and Southern Italy. Pizza was mainly eaten in Italy and by emigrants from there.