Pizza marinara


Pizza marinara is a style of Neapolitan pizza in Italian cuisine seasoned with only tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, oregano and garlic. The name has little to do with the marinara sauce, besides sharing a similar origin.

History

It has been claimed the pizza marinara was introduced around the year 1735, and was prepared using olive oil, cherry tomatoes, basil, oregano and garlic at that time, and that historically it was known to be ordered commonly by poor sailors, and made on their ships due to it being made from easily preservable ingredients: all of these claims are however only backed by tradition rather than solid evidence.
Francesco de Bourcard, writing in his 1866 book Usi e costumi di Napoli, Vol. II, seemed to know the recipe with a different name, and to consider the addition of tomatoes an extra for both Marinara and Margherita:

Recipe

According to the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana:
In pizzerias in the area of Rome, the recipe is commonly modified with the addition of salted anchovies.