One man, two years, 365 pizzas

[this story first appeared in the May 21 edition of the Naples "Panorama" and is reprinted here by permission of the author--namely, me]

History was made at the Pizzeria Giardino d’Averno Friday, May 14, as Sale Lilly ate pizza number 365.

The now-famous pizza aficionado has been visiting pizzerias all throughout Naples, the surrounding areas and Europe—even as far away as Scotland—on a quest to eat 365 pizzas in two years and, in the process, find the perfect pizza.

“Of all the places to meet Neapolitans,” said Lilly, “the pizzeria is the best. Pizzas are made out in the open and it’s a very honest experience. The pizzaiolo’s personal reputation is on the line. When you order pasta, it’s made behind a wall in the kitchen, and there’s no interaction with the chef.”

Lilly is actually Lt. Sale Lilly, an active-duty service member stationed here, and his tour in Naples began as many others’ do, with a desire to try to local food and do a little traveling. What began as a simple goal of eating at all the pizzerias on his various guidebooks’ “top ten” lists has turned into a journey through the world of Italian pizza and the discovery of dozens of small, unknown pizzerias with a lot to offer.

“About a month after I arrived, I had done what I set out to do and I had a lot of the ‘best’ pizzas,” said Lilly. “But there are too many good pizzas for any guidebook to be conclusive about the best. My number one pizza [the Tonnato from Pellone Pizzeria in Naples] wasn’t in any guidebook I found. But my number two pizza was.”

His restraints are considerable: he cannot repeat the same pizza at the same pizzeria, he must eat the whole pizza (half if it’s a pizza al metro), and if the pizzeria offers a pizza bearing the name of the restaurant, he must try it. The result has been a sampling of 365 pizzas from more than 200 pizzerias throughout Europe, all carefully cataloged, mapped and reviewed at pizzasforsale.com. He ate 330 of his pizzas inside Italy, and his worst pizza was also his most expensive—30 Euros in Monaco.

“Neapolitans claim to have invented pizza,” he said, “and the Margherita was invented here,” so he focused most of his attention on Naples and the surrounding area. (The pizza Margherita was invented for the visit of Queen Margherita to Naples, the ingredients intended to reflect the colors of the new Italian flag.)

According to Lilly, there are more than 6,000 pizzerias in Naples alone and 12,000 in the Campania region. “I was able to try a larger sample than any of the guidebooks,” he said.

It would take several lifetimes to eat through all the pizzas here, but Lilly’s pizza eating days may be numbered, at least for now. When taking his last bite of his last pizza, to thunderous applause, someone in the crowd shouted, “Order number 366!”

Lilly smiled. “It might be a while,” he said.

Always a Mexican food lover, he “converted” to pizzas because he moved to what he calls “Pizza Heaven.”

“Any above-average pizza I had in was well above average,” he said, “and much better than anything I’ve had in the States.” He will be moving on to Virginia this summer, where another adventure no doubt awaits.

With two years and 365 pizzas under his belt, Lilly has learned a thing or two about eating pizza here. His website lists three rules for ordering the best pizza: order pizza after 7:30 p.m.; only eat pizza where there are plenty of Italians; and order the pizza bearing the restaurant’s name. “Practice your Italian and get to know your pizzaiolo,” he added. “You’ll get better service that way and you’ll have a better experience overall.”

Lilly’s time in Naples is coming to a close, but he has left a legacy and a challenge for the rest of us remaining behind.

“Neapolitans are rightly very proud of their pizza,” said Lilly. “And I found that if you take an intense interest in something they’re so proud of, you become like family and just have a great experience at the pizzeria and throughout your stay here.”