Painting dating back 2,000 years unearthed in Pompeii - and it features a pizza

27 June 2023 , 18:36

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This ancient fresco includes what many think could be a very early form of pizza (pictured on the left of the plate) (Image: Parco Archeologico di Pompei pre)

It may be one of the world's favourite dishes - but now evidence shows it may also be a lot older than we thought.

Archaeologists in Italy have uncovered a centuries-old painting depicting what looks like the humble pizza, despite many of the delicacy's ingredients not being in use at the time it was painted.

Excavations in Pompeii at the foot of Vesuvius has unveiled a 2,000-year-old fresco detailing a plate of food, including what looks like a round piece of bread adorned with toppings.

But while the etching - which was discovered next to what the historians believe was a bakery - may look similar to a pizza, it still lacks today's commonly-used ingredients.

Tomatoes and mozzarella, which form pizza's base ingredients, would not be used in Italian kitchens for hundreds of years after the Romans.

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The fresco dates back to 79AD when the town was buried under several feet of hot ash (Parco Archeologico di Pompei pre)

While tomatoes were introduced after being brought from the Americas in xxx, the soft cheese led almost directly to the birth of pizza in the nearby city of Naples in the 1700s.

Instead, historians think the fresco is more likely to be a focaccia draped in fruit such as figs, and finished with spices or a type of pesto.

It's seen served on a silver platter in the fresco, and experts say it's not unlike what we now know as one of the country's most beloved exports.

Doomed Roman city Pompeii and neighbouring Herculaneum was buried under several feet of hot ash during the volcano's eruption in 79AD, killing yet embalming its ill-fated residents.

Ill-fated city Pompeii (Getty Images)

The site remains one of the country's biggest tourist attractions pulling a staggering 2.5million visitors a year.

Archaeologists have been excavating Regio IX in Pompeii's centre, uncovering further clues about life in Roman life.

The excavation also resulted in the discovery of three skeletons near an oven in a servants' area of a home in recent weeks, Italy's culture ministry said.

Pompeii director Gabriel Zuchtriegel says the painting of the ancient 'pizza' shows a contrast between the "frugal meal" and the "luxury of silver trays".

Archaeologists continue to dig the site (Parco Archeologico di Pompei pre)

"How can we fail to think, in this regard, of pizza, also born as a 'poor' dish in southern Italy, which has now conquered the world and is also served in starred restaurants?" he told the BBC.

The Coldiretti ag lobby immediately seized on the discovery of the fresco to promote pizza - invented as a quick meal for the working poor - as a national treasure.

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Today, pizza represents one-third of the food budget of foreign visitors and generates total annual revenues of 15 billion euros ($16.4 billion) in Italy.

The art of the Neapolitan pizzamaker was put on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list in 2017, recognized for its four phases of dough preparation and for being baked exclusively in a wood oven at 485 degrees Celsius (905 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Susie Beever