Italy is widely recognized as the country that invented pizza , specifically in the city of Naples.

Quick Scoop

Most historians and food scholars agree that modern pizza as we know it—flatbread topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients—originated in Naples, Italy, in the 18th–19th centuries. Earlier civilizations like ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Persians had flatbreads with toppings, but these are considered precursors rather than true Italian pizza.

So which country “invented” pizza?

  • Modern pizza (especially the classic Margherita style: dough + tomato + mozzarella + basil) is credited to Italian bakers in Naples.
  • A famous story credits Neapolitan baker Raffaele Esposito with creating pizza Margherita in 1889 to honor Queen Margherita of Savoy, using toppings in the colors of the Italian flag.
  • Because of this Neapolitan tradition, Italy is considered the birthplace of pizza, even though there were flatbreads with toppings in other cultures long before.

But weren’t there “pizzas” before Italy?

  • In the Persian Empire around the 6th century BC, soldiers reportedly baked flatbreads on their shields and topped them with cheese, a distant relative of pizza-style food.
  • Ancient Greeks and Egyptians also ate flatbreads with oil, herbs, and other toppings, which resemble early predecessors of pizza.
  • These dishes show that topping flatbread is an old idea, but they did not have the specific Neapolitan combination of dough, tomato, and cheese that defines modern pizza.

Why do some people say America “invented pizza as we know it”?

  • Italian immigrants brought Neapolitan pizza to the United States, where it exploded in popularity in the 20th century, especially after places like Lombardi’s opened in New York in 1905.
  • The U.S. then developed its own very different styles—New York slice, Chicago deep dish, Detroit pan pizza—which makes some people say America “invented pizza as we know it” in a global fast-food sense.
  • Still, these are evolutions of an original Italian dish; historically, the origin country is Italy.

Forum-style takeaway

If you’re arguing on a forum and someone asks “which country invented pizza?”, the historically solid answer is:
Italy, specifically Naples, invented modern pizza; older pizza-like flatbreads existed in places like Persia, Greece, and Egypt, but the classic pizza comes from Italy.

TL;DR: The country that invented pizza (in the modern, tomato-and-cheese- on-flatbread sense) is Italy, with Naples as its culinary birthplace, even though pizza-like flatbreads existed in other ancient cultures.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.