Santa Maria is a brand new, Italian-run pizzeria about to launch on the streets of Ealing providing the locals with an authentic taste of Naples (thankfully, just a culinary one). We managed to track down the head honcho, Pasquale, and fire some challenging, well-thought out questions his way….

Qype: So, we hear Santa Maria is going to be serving Neapolitan-style pizzas. Could you explain to the uninitiated what the main differences are and how you got involved in the pizza business…

Santa Maria: Since we moved to London, we have always been involved in the catering business. Italy’s best exports are food and mafia; not being that talented with gangsterism we decided to work in the food industry. If things don’t go well, we’ll dress up as Goodfellas and carry on differently!

Pizza was not invented by Pizza Hut or Pizza Express, but by a Neapolitan Chef in the 19th century, in honour of Queen Margherita, using a few simple ingredients. Something amazing was created. Pizza today is probably the most global food product in the world, but despite the imitations, the original is the one that is made in Naples. The yeast leavening, special flour, wood-fired oven, Italian tomatoes and mozzarella (plus loads of passion and love) make the main differences. Obviously this is not enough, someone from Napoli who knows how to make this all work together is also necessary. Pizza is something simple, but magic! (Ah, just like Debbie ‘the lovely’ McGee then.)

Qype: What do you miss most about Napoli?

Santa Maria: The blue sky, the sea, the sun, the warmth of our people, the freshness of our food, the buzz of our streets. Napoli is not just an ordinary Italian city, it’s a world apart, with its own style, culture and tradition, something that has to be experienced. As they say “vedi Napoli e poi muori’” (“See Naples and then you can die”)

Qype: Who would you trust more with your wife? John Terry or saucy Silvio Berlusconi?

Santa Maria: Neither of the above. If I had to choose someone to be cheated on by I’d go for John Terry, at least he is not old, ugly and fascist! (Er, I think he could be two out of the three. Allegedly.)

Qype: Why Ealing? There’s a gap in the local pizza market? It’s close to home? Or you just like the therapeutic sounding name?

Santa Maria: We felt inspired by the coolness of the locals and the atmosphere of this very “green” area. So we decided to bring a slice of Naples into this borough.

Qype: It’s been exhaustively documented, by me, that my wife is Roman. Are all Italians perpetually late, or just my missus?

Santa Maria: A famous Portuguese football manager once said “if there is a training session at 10 o’clock, English players would be there at 9.50, French at 10 without knowing why, Italians at 10.45 making it look like its not their fault”. Yes we are perpetually late, but it’s not our fault.

Qype: Lucio Battisti or Elvis Presley?

Santa Maria: Lucio Battisti, without any shadow of doubt.

Qype: Diego Maradona: hero or villain?

Santa Maria: Back home (and for all of us) he is considered as a God. Here just as the “Hand of God”.

Qype: Ok, you have thirty seconds to tell about your new venture:

Santa Maria: Thirty seconds? Let’s make it ninety, the exact time that our wood fired oven needs to cook our pizza.
We simply hope that Londoners will enjoy what we deliver, according to our passionate beliefs about how pizza should be. Everything will be fresh, nice and cool in our handmade premises and on our handmade tables!

Qype: Finalmente, chi e’ questo Arturino Talamonti?

Santa Maria: Someone who is going to love our pizza!