Pizza…mmm, buonissima !
If you want to get your pizza order right in Italy, there are three things you’ll want to know.
You’ll need some handy phrases for ordering so you’ll know exactly what to say when the waiter comes to take your order.
You’ll also want to know how to customize your pizza. Maybe you’d rather they left off the olives, or maybe it’s your favorite topping.
And finally, you’ll want to know: what kind of pizzas can you actually get in Italy?
What many tourists don’t know is that Italians don’t always eat the things you might expect on their pizza. So you’ll learn what you definitely can and can’t find in an Italian pizzeria.
Key Phrases for Ordering Pizza in Italian
When you arrive at the pizzeria , these phrases will be useful:
| Un tavolo per due per favore | A table for two please | Oon tah-voh-loh pehr doo-eh pehr fah-voh-reh |
| Avete prenotato? | Have you booked? | Ah-veh-teh preh-noh-tah-toh? |
When you’re ready to order, you can use any of the following sentence starters. They work in any context, with any type of pizza.
| Io prendo… | I’ll have | Ee-oh prehn-doh |
| Vorrei… | I would like | vohr-ray |
For example:
Vorrei una Margherita - I’d like a Margherita
Prendo la Diavola - I’ll have the Diavola
If you’d like any more help with phrases for ordering, you can check out this handy list of restaurant and bar phrases in Italian
Common Types of Pizza in Italy: What to Know When Ordering
Each pizzeria might offer its own specials, but here are some of the classics which you’re likely to find in many pizzerias.
| Pizza Name | Main Ingredients | Pronunciation |
| La Capricciosa | Mushrooms, artichokes, ham, olives | Lah kah-pree-choh-sah |
| La Diavola | Spicy salami | Lah dee-ah-voh-lah |
| La Margherita | Mozzarella cheese | Lah mar-geh-ree-tah |
| La Margherita con Bufala | Buffalo mozzarella cheese | Lah mar-geh-ree-tah kon Boo-fah-lah |
| La Marinara | Tomato sauce, oregano, garlic. No cheese! | Lah mah-ree-nah-rah |
| La Napoli | Anchovies, capers | Lah nah-poh-lee |
| L’Ortolana | Eggplant, bell peppers, zucchini | Lor-toh-lah-nah |
| La Quattro Stagioni | Artichokes, ham, olives, sausage | Lah kwah-troh stah-joe-nee |
| La Quattro Formaggi | Mozzarella, gorgonzola, fontina cheese and parmesan | Lah kwah-troh for-mah-jee |
By the way, some Italian pizzas are called pizze bianche (literally: white pizzas) because they have no tomato sauce. I know, what’s pizza without tomato sauce? The reason being that Italians think some ingredients work better without it. Like La Quattro Formaggi pizza for example. That’s usually a pizza bianca.
But if you do want to add tomato sauce, you can always ask for it. More on this in the next bit.
How to Customize Your Pizza Order
There’s room for flexibility when ordering pizza in Italy. You’re allowed to add and remove certain ingredients without offending the chef (or pizza maker, pizzaiolo ).
Two essential words to customize your order are con (with) and senza (without).
For example:
Una pizza senza glutine - A gluten-free pizza (lit. a pizza without gluten)
Una capricciosa senza mozzarella - A capricciosa without mozzarella cheese
Un’ortolana con rucola - An ortolana with rocket
And here’s a list of the ingredients you might want to have, or request to have removed, on your pizza:
| Mozzarella | Mozzarella | Moht-sah-rehl-lah |
| Basilico | Basil | Bah-zee-lee-koh |
| Olio piccante | Chili oil (lit. spicy oil) | Oh-lee-oh pee-kahn-teh |
| Funghi | Mushrooms | Foon-ghee |
| Olive | Olives | Oh-lee-veh |
| Capperi | Capers | Kahp-peh-ree |
| Acciughe | Anchovies | Ah-choo-geh |
| Carciofini | Artichokes | Kahr-choh-fee-nee |
| Melanzane | Eggplants | Meh-lahn-tsah-neh |
| Peperoni | Bell peppers | Peh-peh-roh-nee |
| Rucola | Rocket (or arugula) | Roo-koh-lah |
| Prosciutto cotto | Ham (lit. cooked ham) | Proh-shoot-toh koht-toh |
| Prosciutto crudo | Parma Ham (lit. raw ham) | Proh-shoot-toh kroo-doh |
The ingredients you WON’T find on your pizza in Italy
What!? No pepperoni pizza?
You might notice that some of the toppings you’re used to eating at home won’t be on the pizza menu in Italy. If your favorite toppings are pepperoni or barbecue chicken, for example, you’ll probably be out of luck.
Here’s a list of ingredients (and their Italian translation) you’ll be unlikely to find at an Italian pizzeria.
| Pollo | Chicken | Poh-loh |
| Pancetta | Bacon | Pahn-chet-tah |
| Salsa barbecue | Barbecue sauce | Sahl-sah bar-beh-coo |
| Mais dolce | Sweetcorn | Mah-ees dohl-cheh |
| Ananas | Pineapple | Ah-nah-nahs |
Why? Ask an Italian and sometimes they’ll tell you it’s because they don’t like too many contrasting flavors on a pizza. Sometimes they’ll say that’s just the way it is!
Thin Crust, Thick Crust, By the Slice… Pizza Styles in Italy
Do you prefer Neapolitan or Roman pizza? There are lots of different styles of pizza in Italy, and Italians talk about them… a lot! Here are the main ones:
| Pizza napoletana | A thin base and a soft thick crust | Peet-tsa nap-oh-lee-tah-nah |
| Pizza romana | Pizza with a thin crunchy base | Peet-tsa roh-oh-lee-tah-nah |
| Pizza alta | Pizza with a thick and doughy base | Peet-tsa al-tah-nah |
| Pizza al taglio | Pizza by the slice. | Peet-tsa al tah-lyo |
| Pizza fritta | Pizza with fried dough. | Peet-tsa freet-ta |
| Calzone | Like a pizza pocket. The dough is folded over the ingredients. | Kal-tso-nay |
A little cultural point: places serving pizza by the slice in Italy are very common. How does it work? You choose the flavor you want and they cut you a slice from a long rectangular pizza. You can have slices from different types of pizzas if you want to try a few different options.
Katie enjoying a pizza napoletana.
Do’s and Don’ts of Ordering Pizza in Italy: Cultural Tips
If you want to blend in with Italians, and order pizza all’italiana (in the Italian way), then there are some cultural points to keep in mind. Have you heard of some of them already? They can sometimes surprise non-Italians.
-
Italians don’t share pizza . And we don’t blame them. If you do decide to share a pizza with your friend, you won’t be arrested. But generally, in Italy it's one pizza per person.
-
Italians don’t usually have wine with pizza. Beer is considered best. Sometimes Italians might order a coke or spritz as well.
-
If you’re ordering una pizza al taglio, ask for un trancio , not a fetta . Both of these words mean slice, but fetta is used for bread and cakes, whereas trancio is used for pizza. You can also ask for un pezzo (a piece) if you’re asking to try your friend’s pizza.
Here Katie’s having a beer with pizza, the true Italian way!
Order your favorite pizza in Italian: the sentences you need: Review
You’re probably hungry for some Italian pizza now! Here’s a summary of what you’ve learnt and some of the most important phrases, so you can get ordering ASAP.
Arriving at the pizzeria:
Un tavolo per due - A table for two
Avete prenotato? - Have you booked?
Ordering pizza:
Vorrei - I would like
Prendo - I’ll have…
Some key pizza types:
Una Capricciosa - a pizza with mushrooms, artichokes, ham, olives
Una Diavola - a pizza with spicy salami
Un’ Ortolana - a pizza with vegetables (eggplant, peppers, zucchini)
Una Margherita - the classic pizza: tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese
Customizing your order:
senza - without
con - with Some common ingredients:
Funghi - mushrooms
Prosciutto crudo - parma ham
Acciughe - anchovies
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: Pizza is easy to make (and definitely very easy to eat), but it’s not always easy to order in Italian.
K: So in this episode you’ll learn the most common Italian pizzas and how to order them in Italy.
M: Just don’t ask for chicken or barbeque sauce, please! Don’t ask me why. We just don’t do it.
Before we get talking about pizza, if you’re listening to this on your podcast app could you do us un favore and hit the subscribe or follow button? This way you’ll get notified when we release a new episode and you’ll help our podcast grow so that we can keep making free lessons like this. Grazie!
K: And if you know anyone who loves pizza as much as we do, please share this episode with them!
M: Fun fact: pizza was first invented in Naples, where I’m from. So it’s probably not surprising that I love pizza.
K: In this conversation, you’ll hear the kind of pizzas Italians usually eat.
M: See if you can recognise any – do you know what ingredients they have?
K: Ordino le pizze. Quale vuoi, la Diavola?
M: No… oggi prendo una Capricciosa
K: Com’è?
M: Non lo sai? Prosciutto cotto, olive, carciofini e…?
K: Salame?
M: No: funghi! E tu? Cosa prendi?
K: Un’ortolana, senza glutine
M: Tanto per cambiare! K: I said:
M: Ordino le pizze - I’m ordering the pizzas.
Ordino - I order
Le – the
pizze - pizzas.
K: Then I asked:
Quale vuoi, la Diavola? - Which one do you want, the diavola?
Quale - which
Vuoi - you want
la Diavola - the diavola.
M: The Diavola is probably my favorite pizza. In Italian, il diavolo means “the Devil”. La Diavola is the feminine version because pizzas are usually feminine in Italian. We say “la pizza”, so we also say “la Diavola”.
K: It’s called “the devil” because it’s spicy. It has spicy salami and sometimes chili peppers. It’s a little bit like pepperoni pizza in the US. But interestingly, pepperoni pizza isn’t really a standard Italian pizza. In fact, pepperoni isn’t even an Italian word.
M: True! Confusingly, the word sounds like peperoni (spelt with a single p) which DOES exist in Italian. But it means peppers, like bell peppers.
K: So if you see peperoni on the menu, with one p in Italy, you’ll get vegetables, not spicy salami.
K: But Matteo didn’t want the Diavola, so he said:
M: No… oggi prendo una Capricciosa
No - No
Oggi - today
Prendo - I take
Una Capricciosa - Una Capricciosa (literally: capricious)
M: Prendo is really useful because you can use it to order your pizza. For example, when the waiter asks what you want, you can say:
Prendo una margherita – I’ll have a margherita. Literally:
Prendo - I take
Una margherita - a margherita
K: Italians use the verb “take”, rather than “have” when ordering food and drink. You can learn more about this difference in episode 155 .
M: I told Katie I was going to have (or take as we would say) a Capricciosa. The Capricciosa has lots of ingredients, which you’ll find out soon.
K: There are different theories about where the name capricciosa comes from, but one theory is that you order it when you’re feeling capricious. You keep changing your mind about what you want so you order lots of ingredients all at once. Next, I asked:
M: Com’è? - What’s it like? Literally:
Come - How
È - it is
K: This is one of those funny little phrases that’s useful to just learn. To ask “What’s it like”, Italians ask “How is it?”. Come (how) and è (it is) get smushed together.
M: Com’è?
–
K: Then Matteo said
M: Non lo sai? - don’t you know? Literally:
No n - not
Lo – it
Sai? - you know
K: Another funny phrase that’s best to just learn!
M: Prosciutto cotto, olive, carciofini e…? - Cooked ham, olives, artichokes and…?
Prosciutto – ham
cotto - cooked
Olive - olives
Carciofini - artichokes
E… - and…
K: Then I guessed the last ingredient as
M: Salame - Salami (x2)
K: Notice that in Italian, it ends in E, salameh. I got the ingredients completely wrong, so Matteo said:
M: No: funghi! - no, mushrooms!
M: The Capricciosa is a common pizza, but I get why Katie might be confused. There are a lot of ingredients, and they can also vary a bit depending on the pizzeria.
K: To ask me what I was having, Matteo asked:
M: E tu? Cosa prendi? - And you? What are you having?
E - and
Tu - you?
Cosa - what
Prendi - you take
K: So I told Matteo what I was going to have:
M: Un’ortolana, senza glutine - An ortolana, without gluten.
Un’ortolana - An ortolana
Senza - without
Glutine - gluten
K: This is why I got the capricciosa ingredients wrong! I normally avoid pizza (sadly!) because wheat gives me a stomach ache, because of something called fodmaps, just in case there are any fellow sufferers out there! So when I get pizza, I normally get it senza glutine, without gluten.
If there’s something on a pizza that you can’t eat, you can use the word senza (without) to ask for an ingredient to be left off.
M: Senza x 2
K: Maybe you want a vegetarian version of a Capricciosa, so you ask for:
Una Capricciosa senza prosciutto - A Capricciosa without ham
Una Capricciosa
Senza - without
Prosciutto - ham
K: I ordered an Ortolana, one of my favourite pizzas. It comes from the word orto , meaning vegetable garden, because it has lots of vegetables on it. Usually aubergine (or “eggplant” in the US) bell peppers and courgettes (or “zucchini”).
K: Then, Matteo said
M: Tanto per cambiare - Just for a change. Literally:
Tanto - just
Per - for
Cambiare - change
K: Matteo’s being sarcastic, just for a change, because I order un’ortolana all the time.
M: So, now you’ve learned a few classic pizza types. You’ll be able to recognize them on the menu when you’re in Italy, or you might ask an Italian what his or her favorite pizza is. This comes up a lot in conversation!
K: Can you remember the name of the pizza that has spicy salami?
[...]
M:
Diavola x2
K: What about the pizza with lots of toppings?
[...]
M:
Capricciosa x2
K: How do I say “mushrooms”?
[...]
M: Funghi - mushrooms x2
K: This one’s a bit harder, how do I say “artichokes”?
M: Carciofini - artichokes x2.
K: What was the important word to ask to have a pizza without something?
[...]
M: Senza x 2
K: Without gluten, for example?
Senza glutine x2
K: Let’s listen to the whole conversation again.
K: Ordino le pizze. Quale vuoi, la Diavola?
M: No… oggi prendo una Capricciosa
K: Com’è?
M: Non lo sai? Prosciutto cotto, olive, carciofini e…?
K: Salame?
M: No: funghi! E tu? Cosa prendi?
K: Un’ortolana, senza glutine
M: Tanto per cambiare!
K: If you want to learn some more common pizza types in Italy, especially if you’d like to try something new, then head over to our blog.
M: You’ll also find some fun dos and dont’s when ordering pizza in Italy. You’ll also see everything written down, and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz.
K: To continue the lesson, head over to our website by clicking the link in the description
M: See you next time.
K: Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Order your favorite pizza in Italian
Vocabulary
Un tavolo per due = A table for two
Prendo = I’ll have
Vorrei = I would like
Prosciutto cotto = (cooked) ham
Olive = Olives
Funghi = Mushrooms
Carciofini = Artichokes
Una pizza senza glutine = A gluten-free pizza
Flashcards: Order your favorite pizza in Italian
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
