«When I invite friends home for a pizza and I realize I don’t have mayonnaise and eggs, well, it’s a big problem: I have to invent a ruse, borrow them or delay the appointment to go and buy everything I need at the supermarket”, says Andrea Petreti, a boy born and raised in Pesaro, in the Marche region. A person who is unfamiliar with the gastronomic culture of Pesaro might consider these considerations blasphemous, or at least eccentric. Yet, says Petreti, «in Pesaro pizza is mostly eaten this way: hard-boiled eggs and mayonnaise. For dinner, for a snack, even for breakfast.”
This combination is the basis of the so-called Rossini, a pizza whose origins are impossible to establish but which, according to some sources (especially the initial pages of the menus of pizzerias in Pesaro, which often contain historical references), began to be served in a pastry shop Pesaro, the Montesi bar, in the sixties, initially to accompany aperitifs.
It is dedicated to the composer from Pesaro Gioachino Rossini, who, in addition to having composed some of the most famous comic operas in history, was a skilled cook and a lover of refined ingredients, which he often imported into Italy after his long tours abroad: several recipes, such as that of macaroni seasoned with mushrooms, truffles, tomato, raw ham, cream and champagne, which are precisely defined as Rossini macaroni.
In recent decades, also due to the prestigious name it bears, the Rossini pizza has acquired such a symbolic and “identifying” importance for Pesaro that it has been proposed in many variations, such as those involving the addition of anchovies, stracciatella, sausage ( becomes Rossiccia) or olives. Pizzerias very often make their own mayonnaise, and sometimes they indulge in arranging it on the pizza, developing patterns and shapes that distinguish them.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Petreti says that Rossini “is also very popular for savory breakfasts, in the form of a pizza”, and also as a snack for students. «When I leave Pesaro, I realize that this combination is considered a disaster by most of the people I talk to, who look at me as if I were an alien. Yet, for me it’s the opposite: I just can’t conceive of a pizza without mayonnaise.” Indeed, Petreti continues, Rossini is perceived as an abomination not only outside the Marche, but also in places just a few kilometers away from Pesaro. «Even in the south of the Marche, if you put mayonnaise on your pizza, you are looked at as an extraterrestrial».
In reality, it is not easy to establish precisely how extensive the territory is within which Rossini pizza is a normal thing. It can certainly be found in a good part of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, from Fano to Fossombrone, although as one moves away from Pesaro it generally drops in position on the menu. It even borders on Romagna, given that it can sometimes also be found in Cattolica, but not further north. To the south, Rossini’s borders seem to coincide with Senigallia, where it is offered by several pizzerias, but you can no longer find it as far as Jesi or Ancona.
As often happens in these cases, the exceptional nature of Rossini’s ingredients arouses feelings of indignation tending towards revanchism in many people who have a rather traditionalist vision of what a pizza should be. The combination of eggs and mayonnaise is often targeted, especially on social media, according to a well-known mechanism that has long been mocked, for example by the account @italians_mad_at_food (“Italians angry with food”), which collects disgusting comments regarding dishes perceived as oddities or true gastronomic abominations.
Yet, says the Fano pizza chef Daniele Caggia, «in the end it is nothing too sacrilegious: it is a margherita to which, at the end, slices of hard-boiled egg and a generous dose of mayonnaise are added, often homemade» . And then there are the variations: «as a pizza chef, the nice thing is to have fun with mayonnaise, choosing to include variations in the sauce, or combining it with refined ingredients. Using a very inflated verb, we like to experiment, to make gourmet Rossinis.”
– Read also: Atlas of pizza in Italy
Speaking of the criticisms with which Rossini is often stigmatized on social media, Caggia says that, in his career, he has tasted pizzas of all types, from the one with pineapple to the one with melon, and that «you should get used to the the fact that, in the end, everyone puts what they want on the pizza: it’s a question of culinary culture. In Italy we tend to approach these topics with a bit of conservatism, also because we are notoriously very proud of our cuisine.”
Yet, Caggia continues, given that practically all the combinations that we consider eccentric in Italy have developed in a way that is totally disconnected from Italian tradition, «criticizing them really makes little sense. And the same goes for Rossini, which is also an Italian pizza.”
A variant of the Rossini pizza made by Pizzium, recently ordered by a Post journalist from outside Pesaro: he appreciated it.
Alberto Grandi, professor at the University of Parma and author of the book Italian cuisine does not existas well as the podcast DOI – Invented Designation of Originsays that Rossini’s is a typical case of “invention of tradition”, that is, of creating a dish from scratch, around which a certain storytelling (i.e. a story of its origins).
«Linking pizza to the name of one of the most famous exponents of local culture is a good way to make it recognisable. In this case even more so, because from what we know Rossini was a lover of cooking and good food”, he explains. «The hypothesis that Rossini brought mayonnaise to his hometown after a concert abroad is very suggestive, but obviously we have no elements to confirm it», Grandi continues.
– Read also: Everyone envies carbonara
According to Grandi, a good yardstick to explain the mechanism that transformed a pizza that didn’t exist until about sixty years ago into a culinary symbol of Pesaro is that of carbonara. «In Rome it is presented as a traditional dish, yet it is an absolutely American recipe, imported into Italy only in the early 1950s». Another example is that of the pinsa, which is often presented as an ancient Roman pizza, but which did not exist before 2001. Corrado Di Marco, an entrepreneur who comes from a family of bakers active since the beginning of the twentieth century, claims to have created it in that year with all the characteristics that distinguish it.
Yet, until a couple of years ago it was not uncommon for the pinsa to be presented as a modern reinterpretation of an ancient recipe, a kind of flat, hard bread used as a dish which then – once softened by the seasoning placed on top – was eaten.
– Read also: Where does the Roman pinsa come from?
Even if it is not an ancient dish, Rossini has had such great success that it has become part of the Pesaro gastronomic culture. There is no pizzeria that doesn’t offer at least the traditional version which, says the Pesaro author Pier Mauro Tamburini, “is usually the third pizza you find on the menu”, immediately after the marinara and the margherita.
Matteo Ricci, mayor of Pesaro since 2014, has created several initiatives in an attempt to make Rossini a brand to export. For example, for a few years “La Rossini” has been organized in the city, a festival entirely dedicated to pizza with boiled eggs and mayonnaise. In September last year, to celebrate the nomination of Pesaro as the Italian capital of culture, a large table based on Rossini pizza was organized in Viale della Repubblica, the main street.
According to Caggia, probably one of the reasons why the people of Pesaro love Rossini so much has to do with childhood: «it’s the pizza you ate as a child at school, after a football match or in a pizzeria with friends: inevitably , when you grow up you end up looking for those flavors. But this happens with all the dishes in this world, not just with Rossini.” When they eat pizza in places far from Pesaro, many of her friends often ask the waiter for mayonnaise, provoking some astonished looks. “When you grow up with a particular flavor, it almost becomes a habit, like having Parmesan brought to you,” she says.
