Pizzaiolo del Presidente - Napoli's Most Famous Pizzeria

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In July 1994, an American tourist entered Pizzeria Cacialli in Naples, Italy, and changed the restaurant's name forever. Caciallis is one of the top pizzerias in Naples, world capital of pizza. The tourist was US President Bill Clinton and Cacialli became Il Pizzaiolo del Presidente - 'The President's Pizza baker'.

This restaurant enjoys a cult following amongst the locals. Tourists also know about it but do not come in hordes as it is located in a working class district in downtown Naples, infested with purse-snatching centaurs, those thieves on motorcycle who snatch bags, cameras, phone and of course their favorite, Rolex watches. A local paper - Cronache di Napoli - reported no less than four Rolex-snatching on the day I visited this restaurant, excluding any other brand. No matter what watch you wear, if you are not with the Foreign Legion, I recommend you take a taxi. This being said if there is nothing grabbable on your person you will probably be all right even on foot. And Via dei Tribunali is a beautiful, picturesque street that has been on the map for nearly 2000 years - very atmospheric.

Watch the pizzaiolo (Italian for pizza chef - photo) prepare my pizza Margherita and try to guess the secret to the world's best pizza:

The first secret is in the dough, and it is prepared secretly at night and nobody will tell you how they do it. Oh yes, flour, water, salt yeast and a drop of fire resistant oil, but how do you get a paper thin dough that will puff and become crusty in 30 seconds flat - that I don't know.

The pizzaiolo stretches the dough to make a flat disc which he covers with a thin layer of tomato sauce made with fresh tomatoes. He then adds crumbles of fresh, quality mozzarella. You are unlikely to find mozzarella half this good abroad. That's the second secret - fresh ingredients of the highest quality. There is just nowhere you can hide a bad ingredient in such a simple dish prepared in front of the clients.

A basil leaf and the pizzaiolo grabs and egg to break it over my pizza. The restaurant makes mostly pizza margherita, the most simple and basic pizza there is. Each pizza on the menu differs from the others by one or two ingredients at most. The third secret is: do not to change a recipe that works, especially if it's simple.

With amazing dexterity, the pizzaiolo quickly swivels the pizza around to ensure a circular shape.

With one sharp movement, the chef slides the paper-thin pizza on a wooden paddle without altering its shape. That's the fourth secret - dexterity one attains after making 2000 pizzas a day for a few years.

In it goes in the 300°C + wood fired oven. Mr Cacialli let me put my camera right in the oven's mouth. My lens almost melted. The oven bottom is extremely hot and the pizza bubbles and browns in a matter of seconds. After 30 seconds flat it is ready to eat. This is the fifth and last secret - a white hot wood fired brick oven. The turnaround time is about 5 minutes between order and the pizza being delivered.

The finished pizza - crispy, juicy, gorgeous. You'll find pizzas nearly as good but you'll never find better.

The white stuff is not mozzarella but coagulated egg white. The yolk, disguised as a tomato slice, is at 9 o'clock.

Just because Clinton ate there doesn't mean this place has become a tourist trap - it hasn't. The US President didn't walk in by chance, but because this was arguably the finest pizzeria in town. And where else can you eat like a President for 5 Euros?

Il pizzaiolo del presidente
di Ernesto Cacialli
Via Tribunali, 120/121
Tel. 081.210903
Closed on Sunday
www.ilpizzaiolodelpresidente.it