In Italy, pizza served in formal settings, such as at a restaurant, is presented unsliced and eaten with the use of a knife and fork. In casual settings it is cut into wedges to be eaten while held in the hand.

 

The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (lit. True Neapolitan Pizza Association) is a non-profit organization founded in 1984 with headquarters in Naples that aims to promote traditional Neapolitan pizza.

 

The word "pizza" first appeared in a Latin text from the central Italian town of Gaeta, then still part of the Byzantine Empire, in 997 AD; the text states that a tenant of certain property is to give the bishop of Gaeta duodecim pizze ("twelve pizzas") every Christmas Day, and another twelve every Easter Sunday.

 

Modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, in the 18th or early 19th century. Until about 1830, pizza was sold from open-air stands and out of pizza bakeries, antecedents to modern pizzerias.