Does pizza mean pie in Italian?
Mia Moss
Published Jan 19, 2026
The Better Homes and Gardens Encyclopedia of Cooking (Dooley 1971, p. 1706) defines pizza as follows: "The Italian word for pie, now specifically applied to a spicy, open-faced pie traditionally topped with tomatoes, cheese, and herbs.
Is pizza the Italian word for pie?
What Do Italians Call Pizza? To clear any confusion, “pizza” does not mean “pie” in Italian. Pizza was only ever referred to as a pie (a tomato pie or an Italian pie) when Italian immigrants introduced the dish to the United States. Italians have only ever called pizza by its real name!What does the Italian word pizza mean?
Based on etymology, the “Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana” reveals that pizza comes from the dialectal pinza from the Latin pinsere, which means to pound or stamp. Other etymologists suggest it is related to the Lombardic word bizzo or pizzo, which means mouthful, and is related to the English word bite.Is pizza technically a pie?
So is pizza a pie? Pizza is technically a pie, especially in America. A pie is a dish where the main ingredient is placed in the base, usually covered by pastry. A pizza has ingredients like tomatoes, cheese, and meat that's overlaid with dough and baked which makes it a pie.What did they call pizza in Italy?
Pizza could come from the Greek word “pitta” meaning “pie”, or the Langobardic word “bizzo” meaning “bite”. It was first recorded in a Latin text dated 997 in Italy and entered into an Italian-English dictionary in 1598 as “a small cake or wafer.”ITALIANS TRY ITALIAN AMERICAN FOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME | Must Watch
What does Italian word for pie?
Italian Translation. torta. More Italian words for pie. la torta noun.Why do they call pizza a pie?
Why is that? Americans refer to pizza as “pie” because early 20th century Italian immigrants to the United States made and sold a pizza called a “pomidore pizza”. This unknown Italian food was translated to “tomato pie” in English due to being round and cut into slices.Is pizza a sandwich or pie?
Pizza dough is a type of bread dough, therefore pizza is technically an open-faced sandwich and not an open-faced savoury pie.Is pizza Italian or American?
Modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, in the 18th or early 19th century. The word pizza was first documented in 997 AD in Gaeta and successively in different parts of Central and Southern Italy. Pizza was mainly eaten in Italy and by emigrants from there.Did pizza start in Italy?
Pizza has a long history. Flatbreads with toppings were consumed by the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks. (The latter ate a version with herbs and oil, similar to today's focaccia.) But the modern birthplace of pizza is southwestern Italy's Campania region, home to the city of Naples.What's the origin of the word pie?
"Pie" was the word for a magpie before it was a word for a pastry, from the Latin word for the bird, Pica (whence the name of the disorder that makes you eat weird things). Pica morphed into "pie" in Old French, following the proud French tradition of actually pronouncing as few consonants as possible.Is pizza an Italian word?
The origin of the word pizzaPizza, of course, is borrowed from Italian, but the deeper ingredients of the word, if you will, are unclear. Some think the Greek pitta (pita, with a root sense of “bran bread”) is the source.
What do Italians call a small pizza?
Pizza al PadellinoPizza al padellino, or "pan pizza," is a type of pizza that's baked in small, round pans. Think of it like Italian-style "deep dish." Typically served in Torino, pizza al padellino has a thick soft crust, that gets slightly browned on the outside when baking.