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Naples and the Heart of Pizza
Celebrating Pizza with the King
Ten at night in Naples. I’m headed for an interview with Gino Sorbillo, aka King of Pizza. It’s an unusual time for an interview, but life is lived larger here — hours extend, there’s an abundance of spirit that takes hold and inspires me to go with the flow when Gino texted me 22.00 va bene per un’ intervista.
Sorbillo’s pizzeria is in Spaccanapoli, the core of Naple’s historic center, built over the original Greek City, Neapolis. I walk slowly here, taking in the pleasures of life, amplified. From the first time I set foot in this part of the city, I was captured by the broad faces, high volume conversations and hands-flying-though the air of the locals, who looked exactly like characters from my maternal line — southern Italian immigrants of my Jersey shore childhood.
It seems there’s always an open-air show going on in Spaccanapoli. Tonight the stars are Sassy Neapolitan Nymphs — teen-aged girls with raven-black long hair, gold hoop earrings, dark eye makeup, tight skirts, swaying in a pack, calling out to the leather-jacketed ragazzi they pass — Enzo! Aldo! Gennaro!
