The History behind the Modern Pizza Considered a peasant's meal in Italy for centuries, modern pizza is attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito of Napoli in the Italian region of Campania,who in 1889 created a pizza especially for the visit of Italian King Umberto and Queen Margherita. The pizza, named Pizza Margherita after the queen, was very patriotic and resembled the Italian flag with its colors of red (tomatoes), white (mozzarella), and green (basil). It set the standard by which today's pizza evolved. The tomato came to Italy from Mexico and Peru through Spain in the 16th century as an ornamental plant first thought to be poisonous. True mozzarella is made from the milk of the water buffalo imported from India to Campania in the 17th century. So the Neapolitan baker, put it all together. Also in 1830 the world's first true pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port' Alba in Naples, opened and is still running today. Pizza migrated to America with the Italians. Gennaro Lombardi opened the first pizzeria of the U.S. in 1905 in New York City at 53 1/3 spring street. After World War II, returning soldiers created a nationwide demand for the pizza they had eaten and loved in Italy, which is when pizza went public and started to become very popular.