Italy throws a party for pizza’s finest hour

ITALY: Pizza purists in Italy were celebrating a victory yesterday over the kind of culinary piracy that has seen their national dish tarnished with prawns and pineapple and stuffed crusts.

The United Nations has decided to add the Neapolitan art of pizza making to its list of ‘‘intangible heritage’’.

The craft of the pizzaiuolo, the pizza maker who tosses his swirling dough into the air, has been handed down the generations in Naples and exported throughout the world.

Yesterday it was given the coveted status by the world heritage committee of Unesco, meeting this week on the South Korean island of Jeju.

It came after intense lobbying, including a petition signed by two million Italians, many of them aggrieved at the culinary abominations they witness abroad, such as topping pizza with pineapple, prawns, mayonnaise and even cannabis.

It is not just the flamboyant twirling of pizza dough into the air to oxygenise the dough that convinced the committee, but also the gestures, folklore, songs and customs that surround the process, which now joins a diverse group of more than 350 art forms and traditions on the list.

‘‘Fantastico,’’ exclaimed one Naples pizza maker upon hearing the news as he prepared his dough for the day ahead.

Angelino Alfano, Italy’s foreign minister, said: ‘‘A special thanks to the two million Italians who signed the #pizzaUnesco petition and contributed to this great victory.’’

Maurizio Martina, Italy’s minister for agriculture, food and forestry, tweeted: ‘‘Victory! This is another step toward the protection of Italy’s food and wine heritage worldwide.’’