According to popular legend, in 1889, Queen Margherita of Italy visited Naples, where a local pizzaiolo named Raffaele Esposito whipped up a new style of pizza in honor of her majesty. Made with mozzarella cheese, fresh basil and tomatoes grown in the volcanic soil near Mount Vesuvius, the Margherita pizza, as it came to be known, paid tribute to the white, green and red of the Italian flag.

Today, the Margherita stands as one of Naples’ crowning culinary achievements, an outstanding example of Neapolitan pizza, a broader category of pizza that has been recognized as part of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity” by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and protected by Italian regulations that dictate exactly how a “true” Neapolitan pizza must be made.