Carmine D’Elia: an Italian born and raised in Palermo and now the owner of Pizzeria “Pergolà” in Kaufbeuren (Germany), will answer our questions in a brief interview:
1. When did you start loving pizza?
When I was 3 years old, I took for the first time into my hands my mother’s dough and I baked the little pizzas in the wood-burning oven we used to have at home. I remember my mother used to caress my head, saying: “You’re exactly the same as your father”. He was among the earliest pizza makers in 1900 in the area of Salerno, in Cava dei Tirreni, and he was commonly known as “Don Ferdinando the pizza maker”. Our neighbourhood’s tobacconist, “Biagio”, always told me that my grandfather used to cook pizzas for the aristocratic families of Naples, as they were the best in town.
2. Should you describe yourself with a specific pizza, which one would you choose?
Like all the simple things, I would choose “pizza Margherita” with a good San Marzano tomato, Fior di Latte mozzarella, an excellent extra virgin Olive Oil and Basil. This is my pizza, a simple one but with everything you need.
3. Tradition or innovation. Which one would you choose for your pizzas?
Tradition: a long-lasting leavening and a careful workmanship. It is important for me to offer the audience an excellent product, healthy and digestible. For Germans, the views concerning pizza are different: the more the ingredients, the higher the demand. So we decided to revolutionize the very views by ensuring simplicity along with high quality within the same pizza.
4. Tell us about your pizzeria. How did it start? What are your future plans?
My pizzeria was created to defend the real Neapolitan pizza and the values of the Italian culinary art – something that many compatriots never did in many years abroad. I want to raise awareness of and teach the German people these specialities, already well appreciated all over the world.
5. Which pizza do your customers prefer the most?
More and more customers prefer the real Neapolitan pizza.
6. Have you ever thought to come back to Italy?
I love Italy. As all emigrants, I will come back home only once politicians will find the courage to change, not to think about his own business, and to commit to a new politics, clean and sincere.
They say “Who knows how to cook, also knows how to govern”. Perhaps, most of our politicians do not know how to cook. Politics as well is an art attending upon the people.
Thanks to: Pizza Napoletana
