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Italian-made pizza is getting harder to find in many Italian cities

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PIZZA chef Karim S in Rome is one of a growing number of non-Italians baking pizzas in Italy.
MORE and more slices in Italy are being made by non-Italians. Half of all pizza shops in Milan are owned by hard-working immigrants. Is this changing Italy’s pride in its pizza heritage?
PIZZA chef Karim S in Rome is one of a growing number of non-Italians baking pizzas in Italy.
PIZZA dough is formed at the European Pizza Championships, “Giropizza d’Europa” in Hamburg.

PIZZA is an internationally known hallmark of Italian cuisine, so much so that Italy has even proposed that Neapolitan pizza-making be added to UNESCO’s famed cultural heritage list. Italians consider good pizza to be a form of art, with academies spanning from Milan to Bari dedicated to making sure the next generation of pizza chefs are taught all the proper techniques.

However, in many Italian cities, immigrant pizza chefs have now replaced the local “pizzaioli.” According to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Milan, immigrants make up half of all pizza shop owners there. More and more slices in Italy are being made by non-Italians.

Half of all pizza shops in Milan are owned by hard-working immigrants. Is this changing Italy’s pride in its pizza heritage? It’s a similar story in Bologna, where 45 per cent of the city’s pizzerias are owned by non-native Italians, and in Turin, with 38 per cent. However, this trend reverses as one moves south, with just every fifth pizzeria in Rome owned by a foreigner. It’s even less in Naples, the cradle of pizza-making: 1 per cent.

One has to differentiate between pizzeria owners and pizza chefs, says Luciano Sbraga, vice president of the restaurant association FIPE. “About 15 per cent of pizzeria owners in all of Italy come from abroad,” says Sbraga, emphasising that pizzerias in smaller towns are often run by native-born Italians. The number of foreign-owned pizza parlours in the cities is growing in large due to economic reasons. “Opening a pizzeria is no longer assumed to be super profitable,” he explains. For many Italians, the profit margins are too small.

Foreign owners, on the other hand, have fewer demands: “Their goal is often, first and foremost, to have steady work and a decent income.”

And when it comes to making pizza, nearly everyone is in the kitchen: According to Milan’s commerce chamber, most foreign pizza makers stem from North African nations such as Egypt and Tunisia, though Pakistan and Bangladesh also make a strong appearance. “North Africans are great at learning how to make pizza, in part for cultural reasons,” explains Sbraga. Not only can they pull from a bread-baking tradition that’s thousands of years old, Sbraga says, but “they are also hard-working, learn quickly, and are ready to get down to business.”

That also means being OK with working for less money. A “pizzaiolo” often does shift work six days a week, without additional pay for nights or weekends, for about 1,000 to 1,600 dollars a month. Since many native-born Italians are unwilling to work under such conditions, pizzerias turn to a more willing workforce: immigrants, who often work their way up from lowly dishwasher to pizza chef.

Karim S. has been running his pizzeria for 15 years, selling not only pizza in the typical Roman style – by the slice and eaten by hand – but kebabs and falafel as well. While the word “Pizzeria” is written in large letters on the glass front doors, underneath, in smaller font, stands “Halal food.” Karim’s pizza shop represents a fusion of Arabic and Italian cuisine, where couscous and pizza ai funghi both have a place at the counter. “I like pizza,” the Algerian says. However, Italians are unlikely to ever completely turn their backs on the job of pizzaiolo. Various pizzaiolo associations across Italy have pushed to protect their job title by requiring a license to make pizza, and in turn, they argue, protect the pizza’s authenticity. What’s clear is this: The art of making pizza in Italy is far from dead, no matter where the hands doing the work originally came from. – dpa

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