Naples brings pizza record home with 1.8km margherita

It took 250 expert pizza chefs from all over the world some six hours and 11 minutes to build the giant pizza, which when complete stretched along the city's seafront between Castel dell'Ovo and the US consulate.

The recipe called for some 2000 kg of flour, 1600 kg of tomatoes, 2000 kg of mozzarella, 200 litres of oil and 30 kg of basil.

A chef at work on the city's seafront. Photo: Naples' Pizza Village.

The monster margherita beat the previous Guinness world record of 1595 metres, set by chefs at Milan's Expo last year.

But unlike the Expo pizza, Naples' effort was baked to perfection, and in accordance with local tradition, using five specially-designed motorized wood-buing stoves.

Alessandro Marinacci, from Naples' Pizza Village, told The Local the challenge was “absolutely a point of pride for our city, which is the home of pizza.”

The world-famous cheese and tomato pizza is strongly associated with Naples, having first been baked by local chef Rafaelle Esposito in 1889, for Bourbon Queen Regina Margherita.

The world-record bid had been scheduled for Sunday but organizers were forced to postpone until Wednesday due to bad weather.

Once complete, the giant pizza was sliced up and given to various charitable organizations who took portions to the city's poor and needy.

In March, Italy submitted a dossier to Unesco in a bid to get its traditional Neapolitan pizza listed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list.