Legend has it that here lies Naples’s first pizzeria, as well as the genius behind the Margherita pizza, first served to Queen Margherita in the summer of 1889. The 21st-century pizza Margherita coming out of Brandi’s oven is still extraordinary, using the best San Marzano tomatoes, dairy products from Agerola on the Sorrento Amalfi Coast, basil of the Vesuvian villages and sublime extra virgin olive oil from Campania. Worth a stop for its place in pizza history.

When in the Sanità neighborhood, there’s no question that we’ll be seeking out the fried pizza of Isabella De Cham. The young chef makes creative and high-quality fried foods in an elegant and polished restaurant – not what you’d expect for a fried pizza joint. Even the standard fried pizza here is divine, filled with pork crackling, ricotta, pepper and basil. On top of that, Isabella’s menu is full of original, bold takes on fried pizzas – all tasty.

On the outskirts of Naples, in the residential suburb of Fuorigrotta, Pizzeria Cafasso manages to attract famous directors and the average Joe alike (it’s still easily accessible by train). Excellent, consistent pies are what make the simple, family-run pizzeria one of the best known in the city since 1953. The calzone stuffed with escarole is balanced and delicious. The secret is pecorino Romano and olive oil drizzled on the outside, forming a sensual crust of cheese and oil.

Opening a pizza joint in a city that’s renowned for its pies requires gumption. Maria Rosaria Artigiano and her brother, the brilliant chef Gennaro Artigiano, have enough to spare. Their beautiful restaurant in the Spanish Quarter has quickly become a “new classic” in the panorama of Neapolitan pizzerias. The pizza marinara, made simply with garlic, oregano and all the tomato, is the best way to enjoy this elemental ingredient. Here, try an interesting version made with Pozzuoli anchovies.

Attilio has been making pizza for half a century. He started at age 6 helping his mom, Maria Francesca. 50 years later, the mother-and-son team still run this convivial spot. Whether in classic round or star-shaped, Attilio’s pizzas are famous for their lightness. Along with the pizza, try bacetti, ricotta and provola spirals, and crocchettone, a giant, stuffed potato croquette. Many regulars come for Maria Francesca’s homey pastas. Bonus: the bread is baked daily in the pizza oven.

We’ve got a thing for small, multigenerational spots. Cantina del Gallo in Materdei was established in 1898 and run by 4 generations of the Silvestri family. One of the few real outdoor taverns left in Naples. This cozy, simple spot attracts artists, intellectuals and students looking for good food at reasonable prices. The pizza cafona (peasant pizza) is one of the restaurant’s three workhorses, and topped with oregano, cheese, chile and double the tomatoes (tomato juice and chopped tomatoes).

A group of tourists, so the story goes, asked a priest which churches were really worth visiting. The priest replied, “There are many churches, but have you tried the spaghetti with clams?” An interesting way to recommend a pizza spot, to be sure, but we are all about the clams at Pizzeria e Trattoria Vigliena. At the urging of owner Raffaele Esposito, we ordered a plain pie to sop up the clam sauce, and now the two dishes are forever entwined. In Naples, there is no one way to eat pizza.

Gino, the man behind Pizzeria Gino Sorbillo, belongs to one of the oldest pizza-making families in Naples – as far back as 1935. In honor of that lineage, the 23 pizzas at Sorbillo’s are named after family (all pizzaiolos). Take the Raimondo: Along with top-shelf arugula, ham and parmesan, it is also topped with artisanal tomatoes from Mount Vesuvius. For something more decadent, the Luigi, a fried pizza filled with cigoli (fatty pork). There’s no hiding such good pizza – be prepared to queue.

Yes, Naples is the birthplace of pizza – but before the baked variety we all know and love, there was fried pizza. Try it at no other than Masardona’s fry house, immortalized in the movie “The Gold of Naples,” starring Sophia Loren as a pizza seller. As in the film, Enzo Piccirillo and his sons prepare the dough and his wife fries the pizza to perfection. They produce the one thing: fried pizza, made of a light dough enclosing a mixture of ricotta, cicoli (fatty pork), provola cheese and tomato.

A small restaurant in a splendid little-known square under the Spire of San Gennaro draws inspo from a masterpiece in a nearby church: Caravaggio’s The Seven Works of Mercy. Technically, Caravaggio’s pizzeria is 20m away, but we love sitting outside at the trattoria and ordering a pie, especially the swordfish, along with other Neapolitan classics. Something for everyone, art lovers included. It is the charming Italian pizzeria of travelers’ dreams.