10 Best Foods to Eat in Naples: Ranked Guide

Travel writer Anita Hendrieka has published a comprehensive culinary ranking of 10 essential foods sampled during a four-day visit to Naples, Italy, highlighting the city’s distinct regional cuisine from traditional pizza margherita to local pastries. According to Hendrieka’s published food diary, the itinerary focused entirely on authentic Neapolitan dishes available across the southern Italian city.

The Classics: Pizza Margherita and Frittatina di Pasta

Naples is widely recognized as the birthplace of pizza, and the local pizza margherita forms the core of Hendrieka’s culinary evaluations. The traditional preparation features a thin crust topped with San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and extra virgin olive oil. Alongside the standard pie, the review highlights frittatina di pasta, a deep-fried bucatini pasta snack packed with béchamel sauce, peas, and meat, commonly sold as street food in local friggitorie.

Neapolitan Street Food and Pastries

The ranking also features sfogliatella, a shell-shaped filled pastry with a crisp, multi-layered crust. Two distinct variants of the pastry are common in Neapolitan bakeries: sfogliatella riccia, made with semolina and ricotta filling inside a crunchy shell, and sfogliatella frolla, which uses a smoother shortcrust pastry. Other traditional baked goods and handheld items documented in the four-day food tour include pizza fritta—a folded, deep-fried pizza stuffed with ricotta and pork scratchings—and taralli, a crunchy, savory ring-shaped biscuit flavored with almonds and black pepper.