I spent some time in Sicily and one of the things I discovered was I could not get pizza for lunch,only dinner. I thought it was just one restaurant being obstinate but town after it was the same response.
And to this American who enjoyed a slice between classes I could not understand why. I concluded it was too hot and no one wanted to turn up the pizza oven. Is that correct assumption?
Restaurant owner in Italy here: We usually don’t offer pizza at lunchtime because it takes time and wood to fire up the oven and keep it at temperature. Low request volume means it’s not worth it, at least for small pizza places.
If you want pizza for lunch you head to a bakery or “bar” and they have squares (not “slices”) ready for you to pick up.
Technically it’s a family business that I grew up into and I ended up being a developer because at 14 I made the restaurant’s website with Macromedia Fireworks and Dreamweaver.
Traditionally pizza dough should be made on the same day, but takes several time consuming stages and at least 3 hours to rise, so I suspect it’s just that the dough isn’t ready until later in the day.
A lot of the better-quality pizzerias now offer a 48-hour dough option. IIRC the longer it is left to rise, the less yeast it requires, and the easier it is to digest.
Yes, you can get pizza for lunch in Italy. I know because I had it in Sorrento. :) But I had to insist on it (hey, it's on the menu!) and the owner grumbled something something about dumb tourists and about having to heat the oven and charged me extra for it.
And to this American who enjoyed a slice between classes I could not understand why. I concluded it was too hot and no one wanted to turn up the pizza oven. Is that correct assumption?