The carefree tourist who walks the streets of Rome can easily be mistaken. Basically, the difference lies in only two letters. It only takes a small distraction in the reading of the menu and, rather than the expected round disc, you will receive a strange object of oval shape. You will know when in place of a pizza, you have just ordered a “Pinsa”.
A true culinary phenomenon of recent years, the Pinsa is a Roman dish which differs from its famous Neapolitan cousin by the maturation time of its dough and the mix of flours used, which gives it a slightly crunchy side. An original characteristic but far from being revolutionary, since in Rome, unlike what is done in Naples, the traditional pizza was already fine and crisp.
“She disappears in the mouth”
For the well -established consumer, crunching in a Pinsa is therefore nothing subversive in terms of taste. However, in the Italian capital and elsewhere, the popularity of the product has literally exploded in the space of twenty years. Today, there are no less than 7,000 Pinsa restaurants, located especially in Italy, but also elsewhere in the world.
A significant number of people who work there have been trained in the Marco Montuori school. Located in the east periphery of the capital, the “Pinsa School” is a bit the Mecca of the aspirants “Pinsaioli”. Its director in shape approximately 300 per year. When asked to reveal the secrets of the success of this product, he does not hesitate to bring a Pinsa and to guide us sensoryly in the tasting.
“When it is bitten, she disappears in the mouth. You can eat unlimited quantities, it is so light. ” The magic speech was pronounced. According to followers of this dish, the Pinsa would be a much lighter product than pizza. “Less caloric”even dares Marco Montuori, who then embarked on a technical explanation.
“Water contains zero calories. If, to make my dough, I put less flour and more water, in the end, this dough will necessarily have fewer calories ”evaluates Montuori. “The Pinsa also plans to mature the paste of minimum forty-eight hours”he adds proudly. A detail that is important, since according to a theory very popular in recent years, a time of maturation of the longer dough would necessarily imply a product easier to digest.
A “healthy variant”, really?
Digestion, lightness, calories: these words come back incessantly when we talk about Pinsa, almost as if it were a question of a dietetic product. An unsuitable adjective? “I would rather say that it is a healthy variant of pizza”believes Alberto Di Marco, who is probably the most qualified person to talk about this subject. Indeed, the man is none other than the son of Corrado Di Marco, the Roman baker to whom we owe the paternity of the Pinsa.
Now at the head of a company that exports to more than seventy countries and whose turnover is around 50 million euros, Alberto Di Marco witnessed personally the invention of this dish, in 2001. However, according to the young business leader, it is necessary to go back much further to understand the genesis of this product, until the 1970s.
The “Snella Pizza”, the first invention marketed in 1981, ended in a failure. However, the ingredients of success are already there.
At the time, pizza in Rome was above all a street food product, “Exceptional in terms of taste, but a real brick for the stomach”retraces Alberto Di Marco. Very rapid maturation time of the dough, flours embellished with sugars and lard: many factors contribute to the heaviness of the dish. This does not seem to be a problem for anyone, except for Corrado Di Marco.
In advance on his time, the man then wishes to concoct a new prototype pizza, less caloric and more digestible. But the “Pizza Snella”, its first invention marketed in 1981, ended in failure. However, the ingredients of success are already there. Twenty years later, in 2001, Corrado Di Marco improved the concept of “Pizza Snella” to create the Pinsa, a mixture of wheat, soy and rice flours, with high hydration and long maturation.
“Emotional marketing” and Revisited History
Times have changed and this time, the proposal for a “pizza light” met with a huge commercial success, in particular thanks to a brilliant marketing operation born of a misunderstanding – some would call a lie.
“The word pinsa comes from the Latin“ pinsere ”which means crushing, it is the way we work this paste, Traces Alberto di Marco. One day, during an interview, I explained the Latin root of this word to a journalist who understood that the Pinsa was a modern reinterpretation of a dish that already existed in ancient Rome. “ The Di Marco, who see a stroke of “Emotional marketing” Exceptionally, these rumors do not immediately deny that which greatly contribute to making their product known.
Even today, even if this legend has no historical foundation, it remains very widespread on the sites that sell the product and even appears in the menus and signs of certain pinchios evoking the ancient origins of this dish. In Tuscany, in the peaceful city of Grosseto, the PinSeria of Matteo Travagli displays for example the false history of the Pinsa well in sight in front of the entrance.
This little innocent retractor makes this owner smile, who launched into the world of “pizza light” in 2021. “I have always been pizzaïolo, but when I wanted to get started, I wanted to sell an innovative, different product. With Pinsa, it was a love at first glance, Remember Travagli, who does not regret his choice. Almost all of my clients say they better digest the Pinsa and, for me, it is a much faster and practical product with which to work. ”
So, pizza or pinsa?
Indeed, unlike the base of the pizza which requires being spread out and prepared at the time of the order, that of the Pinsa must necessarily be prepinated in the oven for the first time, which completely changes the organization of work. Unlike the pizzaïolo, the pinsaiolo can get ahead by precribing before the opening schedule a certain number of pinsas which will just have to be garnished and quickly ironed in the oven.
Better still: this is not the case of Matteo Travagli, which prepares its dough alone, but nothing prevents a breenia from buying prefeited and precious bases, which would be inconceivable in a pizzeria with a minimum of qualitative standards. “With the Pinsa, you could make a pizzeria without the pizzaïolo”Single, even work, amused.
Would the popularity of this dish then also depend on the fact that it facilitates the work of restaurateurs? “If you buy precious basics, you only need someone who knows how to manage an oven, Flavio scintu, Roman restaurateur who, in a company with Edoardo Bontempi, recently opened his PinSeria in the capital in the capital. When we started, we realized that Rome was invaded by precious basis, in the first place of the Di Marco brand, so we absolutely wanted to make our customers think that they were served with the basics. “ From there is born a simple but brilliant idea to distinguish oneself: to make Pinsa with the round shape of the pizzas. “Pinszas”, as we see written everywhere on the menu of the Restaurant de Scintu.
In a way, the creation of this hybrid can be seen as the ideal conclusion of this story. Pizza and Pinsa are now one and there is no reason to establish a hierarchical relationship between the two products. Basically, that’s all that Marco Montuori always wanted. “The important thing is that we no longer consider the Pinsa as the daughter of the pizza, proclaims the director of Pinsa School with pride. Strictly speaking, they are sisters. “
