Pizza Fritta vs Margherita
Pizza fritta or margherita? How Naples' fried pizza differs from the wood-fired one, the pizza a portafoglio, and the tours that serve both (October 2026).
Pizza fritta is pizza dough filled, folded and deep-fried until it is golden and puffed; the margherita is the same kind of dough stretched flat, topped with tomato, mozzarella and basil and baked in a very hot oven. Naples eats both, and the fried one is the street food. A tour that serves both side by side is Do Eat Better Experience’s Naples: Pizza and Beyond Food Tour: fried pizza, a pizza “where it was born”, tarallo, frittatina, babà and espresso over three hours, from US$46 a person (checked October 2026), rated 4.8 from 89 reviews.
Side by side
| Pizza fritta | Margherita | |
|---|---|---|
| How it is cooked | Deep-fried | Baked in a very hot oven |
| Shape | Folded half-moon, sealed | Flat and round, with a puffy rim |
| Classic filling or topping | Ricotta, cicoli (pork cracklings), pepper, often provola and tomato | Tomato, mozzarella, basil, olive oil |
| How you eat it | Standing, from paper | At a table, or folded as a portafoglio |
| Vegetarian? | Not the classic cicoli filling | Yes |
Where pizza fritta comes from
The stories disagree. Some tie its rise to post-war Naples, when ovens were scarce and frying in a pan at home or on the street was cheaper; others give it a much older history, from a city that fried much of its food. What everyone agrees on is that it was the pizza of the poor, sold from street windows, and that it still is a street food: on Via dei Tribunali, several pizzerias fry it at a window onto the street.
The margherita, and the pizza a portafoglio
The oven-baked pizza is what made Naples famous: the art of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo was added to UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage in December 2017. The street version is the pizza a portafoglio, a small margherita folded in four and wrapped in paper. Every tour here serves at least one of the three; Food Raphael Tours and Events’ Street Food Walking Tour starts with a portafoglio and a pizza fritta at the same stop.
What is the secret of Naples pizza?
Ask a pizzaiuolo and you hear about the dough: a soft, wet dough left to rise slowly, stretched by hand, and baked for very little time in a very hot oven, so the rim puffs and blisters while the centre stays soft. If you want to learn it rather than eat it, Food Raphael’s pizza-making class with a local pizzaiolo bakes in a wood-fired oven, and the food tour against a pizza class guide compares the two.
Pick your pizza tour:
Pizza and Beyond
Fried pizza and a pizza in one three-hour walk, beer included.
Check dates →Street Food Walking Tour
Both pizzas at the first stop, then six more tastings.
See the street food walk →Naples by Night, Food and Wine
A margherita, pizza fritta and seven stops in four hours.
See the evening tour →Prices and review counts as listed on GetYourGuide in October 2026, not a quote.
Check dates and book
Fried Pizza and the Margherita in One Tour
Do Eat Better's Pizza and Beyond tour takes you through the historic centre with tarallo, fried pizza, frittatina, a pizza, babà and espresso across 4+ stops, with water and a beer. Rated 4.8 from 89 reviews, from US$46 a person as of October 2026, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Check Pizza Tour Dates