Pizza Served From the Mouth of the Gods

When guests hear Walt Disney World, the first thing that comes to mind is the amazing attractions, but food offerings at this family resort are another key to the whole entertainment package.  Foodies and hungry families together can rejoice, as a new casual pizzeria, Via Napoli, has opened for business in the Italy pavilion of Epcot World Showcase (map).

With the architecture and design of the authentic pizzeria based on the traditional Italian styles, it blends in perfectly to the adjacent Tutto Italia Ristorante.  The interiors are open and airy with large curved arches, but warm with the tones of gold, burgundy and green.  A unique feature of the restaurant is a trio of wood burning ovens.

Yet, leave it to Disney to add their own special touches of whimsy as the ovens are named for the three active volcanoes in Italy – Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius, and the volcanic island, Stromboli.  Each oven is sculpted with a giant face of the gods whose mythology surrounds each of the volcano’s history.  With mouths wide open, these faces reveal the blazing wood fires inside.

Featuring classical Neapolitan pizza, the flat hand-tossed brick-oven fired beauties, that range in a selection from pizza bianca, quattro stagioni, piccante, ortolano and traditional margherita.

Based on the pure, simple Neapolitan pie of Southern Italy, great care went into the selection of the ingredients with San Marzano tomatoes, Caputo flour and handmade fresh mozzarella. Even the water used to make the crust was hand selected from two springs in the United States that specifically match the pH and mineral content of the water found in Naples and the Campania region of Italy.

Other Southern Italian specialties are featured on the menu from appetizers to salads to entrees. The pizza with its thin crust, light sauce and dotted with thick wedges of cheese, is served just the way my family likes it.  And, of course, my favorite, desserts that top off this gastronomic tour of Italy.

The World Showcase, as all Disney parks, was intended to continuously evolve and enhance the guests experience.  This new addition of a casual family eatery full of flavor and atmosphere certainly is building on that tradition.