Today on Food on Fridays we take a look at some traditional pizza.

Well, at least we look at a pizza tradition that Chris and I have had over most of the last 14 years.

Now, in Italy, and particularly in Verona, people eat late. So, if you arrive rather late, e.g. 8pm, it’s actually rather early for dinner. I mean, Italians will often go out to eat around 9pm. So, even if you arrive in Verona at 8pm there are still going to be plenty of restaurants open after that for dinner.

But early on in our visiting here, we didn’t necessarily understand that. At least early on we always wound up arriving late in the day, and were in those days worried that we wouldn’t be able to find dinner if we got in late.

However,  we did know that pizza places are always open very late, unlike other restaurants. So, having been to a pizza place on our very first visit, San Matteo Church, we knew that it was a decent pizza place that was sure to be open late when we arrived in Verona.

Now, over the years, we have learned that it’s actually possible to go to other places on the days we arrive in Verona late.   But our little tradition is still to choose to go to San Matteo on our first night. It’s quick and easy, and the pizza — while not as good as 14 years ago, due to a change in the management — is still predictably pretty good.

So, last Wednesday, when we arrived in Verona late in the day (by train from Tübingen), and even though we knew we could have done something different, we headed over to San Matteo for a pizza after checking in at the hotel.

Now, we don’t always have the same kind of pizza; their menu has 50-70 different possible combinations.  Here are the two we selected last Wednesday:

Pizza with spicy salami, black olives, and onions

Pizza with prosciutto and mushrooms

Each pizza is served to be eaten as a “personal pan pizza” concept; it’s a very thin crust, and you eat it with a knife and fork.

BTW, the San Matteo Church is a pizzeria, but the name is accurate, as it is in a building that was a former Catholic church (called San Matteo). Not often you eat pizza in church, eh? (In the interest of full disclosure, though, San Matteo is not the only pizza place in a former church here in Verona, either; we’ve eaten in at least one other one, but I don’t recall the name right off.)

Anway, while we lived in Europe we used to go to San Matteo several times a year, and even before that on average more than once a year since 2002. But this is our first trip back to Verona in the last 20 months. So, it was fun that the maitre d’ — who used to be a waiter many years ago — still remembered us!  He’s always pleasant, and always seems to get a kick out our telling him that it’s our tradition to go there for our first meal on every visit to Verona.

So, that’s it for today’s Food on Fridays post. Doing these posts is another tradition that I’m happy to get back to, particularly when I get a chance to introduce you to a traditional pizza — er, rather, a pizza tradition — in Verona.

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As I’ve just explained,  I know why piazza at San Matteo Church is our tradition. By contrast, Tevye doesn’t know why certain things are a tradition in the opening number from Fiddler on the Roof. However,  I’m including links to clips of that song below anyway. After all, including a Broadway show tune in a post on this blog is another tradition.

• Tradition (song) from Fiddler on the Roof – movie version
• Tradition (song) from Fiddler on the Roof  – Broadway soundtrack version performed by Zero Mostel.  I saw him perform in a revival of this show in Philadelphia many years ago; thanks, Mom, for getting those tickets for us!