Naples is the home of pizza and Da Attilio served the best pizza I’ve ever had.  It’s a medium sized place in a touristy area but packed with people speaking Italian.  The red cloth covered tables are topped with plastic and set with paper napkins.  A large pizza oven is at the entrance to the restaurant where there is room for a few people to wait for a seat.  The wait was not bad.  The counter keeps a list and calls outside when it is your turn.  Inside there are a couple rooms with fairly close tables and lots of decorations on the walls.  No music is in the background just the hum of people happily eating pizza with friends.  When you get to your table there is a large menu and sometimes a special pizza of the day.  After you finish there is a counter up front where you can pay.  They serve wine and beer but I didn’t see hard liquor.  The staff were very friendly but pretty much in a rush as they have lots of people to attend to.  It was so good that we came back for a second visit.  Chef Attilio is the third generation of ownership of this business, named for his grandfather who started the restaurant.  He started helping his mother at the age of 6.

 

Our first visit the special pizza of the day was an eggplant, basil, tomato and mozzarella so we ordered that.  It was amazing.  The crust had a small puff on the edge that gave it a good chewy texture and the balance of ingredients was perfect.  The eggplant was cooked perfectly and had no seediness, that often plagues that vegetable, it was really creamy.

 

On our next visit we tried the fried potato appetizers as they were out of aracini or rice balls.  It was a long log stuffed with creamy potatoes with a center of cheese that was fried.  It was good but the pizza is the star here.

 

We tried the Napoletana that is made with sauce, herbs and garlic.  It was so flavorful and herby.  Delicious.

 

We also tried the pizza he developed Pizza carnevale – that is a star shaped pizza with eight points stuffed with fresh ricotta cheese stuffed.  In the center of the star is cow’s milk mozzarella from Vico Equense and Neopolitan sausages and mix of parmesan aged 24 months and pecorino romano.    It was fantastic with the wonderful dough corners stuffed with delicate ricotta were a treat to eat by themselves.  The sauce was great and it just made you smile to eat such a fine product.