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Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a connoisseur, a specialist, an expert ...
that knows everything about something?
Well, we have Johnny here, who happens to be the connoisseur of pizza.
And he's going to tell you a little bit about his journey
in finding out the truth about where pizza came from,
and well, he is the expert on it!
What's interesting is that there's a few guys out there,
and if they're ever watching this video,
they'll know we went on a journey a number of years ago;
on a pizza journey; we wanted to find out really where it came from.
I know, but not everyone knew that.
Pizza started in Naples, Italy.
But that wasn't enough for me.
Obviously, traveling there, every year as a child,
and living there from the ages of 16 to 20,
I wanted to know where the first pizzeria was.
So, in Naples, Italy, I did find that place, it was called Porta Abba.
And interesting enough, it's a great pizzeria, but it wasn't the best pizzeria.
So, how did that become pizza in the first place?
Um, it was established in 1879, I believe, I mean, '89, I'm sorry. 1889.
Uh, the queen of Spain, Margarita, was married to, I believe, the King of Naples,
at the time; and they wanted to represent something for her,
so, they took, at the time, what they were making,
was basically, a bread crust, with crushed tomatoes on it.
So, to represent the new colors of the Italian flag,
we chose green, white, and red.
They took fresh basil, fresh mozzarella,
and they presented it to the Queen Margarita.
And when she asked, 'what is this that you present to me?',
the, Rafael Esposito was his name, said, 'this is Pizza Margarita'.
He named it after the queen.
So, from there, we come to where we are today, and on my adventure there,
I was so surprised to find, place after place had followed from the first,
and the second, and third, and fourth, the fifth, and sixth pizzeria,
and eventually, it led me to the States,
where I came to Lombardi's on Spring Street,
and then, there's Patsy's and Grimaldi's;
these are the founding fathers of pizzeria as we know it.
And that developed into a New York style pizza,
because ingredients in Italy, the 00 flour,
and the fresh mozzarella and tomatoes,
were not necessarily available here in the States,
so they had to make do with the ingredients they could find here.
And I took all of that, and built it into my pizza.
So, we make a New York style pizza, with a Neopolitan twist.
It's rather unique.
Wow! Now, that is what I would call a story.
A story about someone who's really dedicated themselves,
with this passion you can hear, to be the connoisseur of pizza.
And you can enjoy it here, in Tampa, Florida, two locations.
And how can we find you?
Gianni's and My Pizza.
G-i-a-n-n-i-s, and My Pizza, located in St. Petersburg, and in Bradenton-Borden.