Pizzeria Concettina ai Tre Santi, Naples

Pizzeria Concettina ai Tre Santi is one of the most interesting pizza destinations in contemporary Naples, occupying a historic location in the Sanità neighbourhood — the ancient and densely populated district below the city's aristocratic villas, famous for its baroque churches, catacombs, and bone chapels. The pizzeria is named after the three saints venerated in the adjacent church of Santa Maria dei Tre Santi, and has operated from this address for three generations. The current creative force is third-generation pizzaiolo Ciro Oliva, who has used traditional Neapolitan pizza technique as a foundation for creative experimentation that has attracted international attention. Oliva's innovations include the pizza nera (black dough coloured with cuttlefish ink, topped with squid, burrata, and sea urchin), pizzas with unconventional Campanian ingredients including local nduja, smoked provola from the Monti Lattari, and seasonal vegetables from the surrounding campagna. The montanara fritta — Concettina's version of the fried dough round — is particularly well executed, and the accompanying dessert pizzas push the format into entirely new territory. Throughout all of this creative ambition, the base technique remains classically Neapolitan: the dough is long-fermented, the oven is wood-burning, and the cornicione is the characteristic airy, charred frame of the authentic pizza napoletana. The Sanità neighbourhood is an integral part of the Concettina experience — culturally rich, slightly rough around the edges, and decidedly not a tourist destination in the conventional sense.