In Italy there’s really no question: The best pizza is Neapolitan, and that’s that. It’s even regulated, with strict guidelines (http://www.pizza.it/NotizieUtili/disciplinare-pizza-napoletana-doc.htm) specifying how the dough for the Pizza Napoletana is to be made, how it is to rise, what kind of tomatoes are to be used and how they are to be applied, what kind of cheese, what herbs, and, perhaps most importantly, how it is to be cooked (in a wood-fired oven).

Pizzerie don’t have to follow the guidelines, but unless they do what they make is not Napoletana, even if they’re in the heart of Naples. In other parts of the world the situation is of course different -- different air, water, flour, cheese, and so on. But this doesn’t mean that there aren’t regional favorites people identify with. Among New Yorkers, Brooklynites have a reputation of being more passionate than most about their pizza, which is topped with tomatoes, mozzarella and a dusting of Romano, pepperoni (called hot sausage outside the U.S. and salamino piccante in Italy), and sausage.

Pizza ovens have circular floors, and parabolic ceilings that reflect the heat down. Because of the circular floor, they provide a nicely organized workspace. Since pizza baking is a dynamic process in which the oven door stays open while you add, turn, and remove your pizzas, you have to keep a fire going in the oven lest it cool. The circular floor allows you to simply keep the fire to one side where the roof slopes down, and have most of the floor area free for pizza.