It’s a nice story, that of this man born in 1973 whom the oven saved from the streets, «in 1988, when I was a teenager, my parents wanted me to find a job. So I went to work in a pizzeria». The meeting with baker and pizza chef Espedito Raffone was essential: «He gave us tips on the dough».

His passion was born by chance, but was later supported by dedication and sacrifice: «In 2006 I tried to work solo, with my Palazzo Pretorio in San Donato in Poggio», a hamlet of Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, 40 full minutes from Florence.

It was the beginning of a success he moved to the new restaurant, called Santarpia and opened last December in Largo Pietro Annigoni 9/C, in Florence (tel. +39.055.24.58.29. Open only in the evening, closed on Tuesday): the dough is a blend of 0 Specialand Unica flour by Molino Quaglia, double maturation, from 30 to 48 hours. A very hydrated dough, rolled out by hand, «this way the disk is not hard, it has bubbles of air».

The pizza is in the classic style of Campania, not Naples, «instead of the 50 seconds of baking (in wood oven) I prefer a slower cooking, let’s say one minute and a half, like they do in Tramonti or Gragnano». 

This way the edge is high, crispy outside and soft inside, «I avoid the gummy effect people love in Naples. Here in Florence it’s not popular because they think it’s hard to digest».

As for the topping Santarpia prefers few variations (there are a dozen pizzas in the menu, they change often depending on the season and there’s always a couple of pizzas of the day), so as to always have fresh and excellent products: «I focus on high quality and balance».

Carlo Passera
source: http://newsletter.identitagolose.it/email.php?id=628

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