L’antica Pizzeria Da Michele

A Naples legend well before Julia Roberts (in Eat, Pray, Love) gave it celebrity sheen, Da Michele was opened by the Condurro family in 1930. The only pizzas are marinara and margherita, and they are pure classics. 39/081-553-9204.

Hanging out in Naples for 2 hours in between trains to Sorrento, my friend and I decided it would be a good idea to hunt down some pizza in its storied birthplace. Applying our Italian language skills, we asked a train clerk where to find pizza napoletana, to which he replied “Da Michele,” before pinching his fingers and bringing them to the dimples on his cheeks and shaking them in that old Italian gesture you rarely see but immediately understand to mean “delicious.” What we took away from it was, “jackpot.” When we arrived at Da Michele, it was only just beginning to bustle; we each ordered a simple margherita, and as we waited and watched them roll out the dough, a picture of Julia Roberts could not be missed taped on the glass partition. Turns out Da Michele is one of the places where the actress filmed for Eat, Pray, Love, and the place they chose for her to taste Naples-style pizza, i.e. the best kind of pizza in Italy.