February 9: Pizza Day

Ingrid Nováková, international specialist, February 9, 2026

Origin of Pizza Day

Pizza Day was created in 2000 by the marketing campaigns of Papa John's and Domino's Pizza. February, considered a slow period after the year-end holidays, was ideal for boosting consumption. This day is also an occasion for charitable initiatives: in 2019, the association Slice Out Hunger organized an event in New York, selling slices of pizza for $1, with all proceeds donated to food banks.

The first traces of pizza in history

As early as the Neolithic era, civilizations such as the Egyptians and Babylonians prepared flattened bread cakes, cooked on hot stones and topped with herbs. The ancient Greeks had a version called plakous, a flatbread topped with olive oil, garlic, and spices. Among the Romans, a similar preparation called focaccia was eaten by the legions and in taverns, often accompanied by cheese and honey. The direct ancestor of pizza appeared in Naples in the 16th century, when Neapolitan peasants began adding ingredients to a simple bread dough. The turning point came in the 16th century with the arrival of the tomato in Europe, imported from America after Spanish expeditions. Long considered toxic, it began to be eaten in Italy starting in the 17th century, notably in Naples, where it was spread over bread flatbreads, giving rise to the first modern pizzas. In 1830, Naples saw the opening of the first documented pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba. In 1889, the pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito created the famous Margherita pizza in honor of Queen Margherita of Savoy, combining the colors of the Italian flag with tomato, mozzarella, and basil. From the late 19th century, Italian immigrants introduced pizza to the United States, where it quickly gained popularity with the opening of the first American pizzeria, Lombardi's, in New York in 1905.

Unusual records around pizza

The largest pizza in the world was made in 2023 in Los Angeles by Pizza Hut and YouTuber Airrack. It measured 1,296.48 m² and required more than 6,193 kg of dough, 2,244 kg of tomato sauce, 3,992 kg of cheese, and 630,496 slices of pepperoni. In 2017, another record was set in Fontana, California, with a pizza measuring 1,930.39 meters long. The most expensive pizza in the world, named "Louis XIII," was created by Italian chef Renato Viola and costs $12,000. It is topped with three types of caviar, Norwegian lobster, and buffalo mozzarella. In New York, the pizzeria Industry Kitchen offers a $2,000 pizza covered with 24-karat gold leaf and black truffle. In 2021, a record for the most pizzas made in one hour was set by Johnny Di Francesco, chef at the famous Neapolitan pizzeria 400 Gradi in Melbourne, who made 206 pizzas in 60 minutes.