Even if Franco Manca went out of fashion a while back, London owes the place. Fifteen years ago, it kicked off our mainstream love affair with Neapolitan pizza, helping to inject an Italian classic into the capital’s lifeblood.
Countless Neapolitan-style ventures have since eased in. Pizza Pilgrims recently celebrated its 10th birthday; there’s 081 in Peckham, Bravi Ragazzi in Streatham, 50 Kalò in Trafalgar Square and Chelsea favourite Cinquecento. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room to manoeuvre, to welcome and celebrate variations on Italy’s second most precious gift to the world (the first is Sophia Loren).
