Naples pizza-twirling gets Unesco world heritage status

Pizza has conquered the world, but the art of "pizzaiuolo" - twirling the dough and baking it in a wood-fired brick oven - is less well known outside the Italian city of Naples.
That could now change after the UN's cultural body gave it world heritage status, which aims to raise awareness of traditions around the world.
Pizzaiuolo has been handed down for generations, Unesco said, and encompasses the social ritual of songs, stories and gestures that takes place between pizza makers and diners in working class Neapolitan neighborhoods.
Italy had argued that the practice was part of a unique cultural and gastronomic tradition.
"Victory!" tweeted Maurizio Martina, Italy's minister for agriculture, food and forestry. "Another step towards the protection of Italy's food and wine heritage."
Pizza-makers in Naples celebrated by handing out free pizza on the streets. Two million people had signed a petition to support pizzaiuolo's application, the Association of Neapolitan Pizzaiuoli's head Sergio Miccu said.
"After 250 years of waiting, pizza is humanity's heritage, its intangible heritage. Congratulations to Naples, congratulations!" pizza-maker Enzo Coccia told the BBC.
'Criminal' pineapple
The traditional Neapolitan pizza has two classic versions.
One is the Margherita with tomato, mozzarella, oil and basil, which has the same red white and green colours as the Italian flag and is believed to have been named after Italy's Queen Margherita of Savoy.
The other is the Marinara, with tomato, garlic, oregano and oil.
Locals profess bafflement at foreign topping innovations such as pineapple, which appears on the Hawaiian.
"I think, and I hope, that this could be the chance to make foreigners understand how pizza is made, without Nutella or pineapple," Matteo Martino, a customer at a Naples pizza restaurant, told Reuters news agency.
On Twitter Alex Iatoni from Bergamo in northern Italy said: "It's good that pizza has been recognised as UNESCO heritage. But now we must insert the pineapple in the list of crimes against humanity."
Pizzaiuolo was up against 33 other traditions seeking to join Unesco's list of "intangible heritage", set up in 2003.
BBC