Rome seeks to copyright the crisp Neapolitan pizza

John Hooper in Rome
Thursday May 27, 2004
The Guardian

In an attempt to save the true Neapolitan pizza from extinction, the Italian parliament is to debate a bill that defines the dish for posterity. The proposed law, of eight clauses and six sub-clauses, was published in the official gazette this week.
It represents the first step towards including the Neapoli tan pizza among products recognised by the EU as guaranteed traditional specialities.

Pizzerias meeting the guidelines laid down in the bill will be able to distinguish their products with the Italian initials STG on their menus and in advertisements.

The bill, drafted by government officials with the help and backing of Neapolitan pizza makers, stipulates the types of flour, yeast, salt and tomatoes that must be used. And it specifies that the dough has to be kneaded by hand.

The cheese on the classic pizza margherita must be mozzarella "from the southern Apennines" and to qualify as a pizza margherita extra, the mozzarella needs to be made from buffalo milk.

This will yield an ironic response from mozzarella producers in the area round Naples, who are equally anxious to preserve the identity of their own product and have been insisting that anything not made from buffalo milk is not mozzarella anyway.

The bill declares that the genuine Neapolitan pizza is round and no more than 35cm (14 in) across. The rim must not rise by more than two centimetres.

It was not immediately clear how the authorities intended to police these regulations, but the bill refers to "checks" on restaurants, suggesting that pizza-lovers in Italy may have to wait for their food while inspectors measure the depth of the crust.

The bill is part of a drive toward "copyrighting" Italian food. But the business daily Il Sole-24 Ore argued yesterday that it was already too late for the pizza.

"This extraordinary speciality can today be found in Beijing and Sydney," it said. "It belongs to humanity."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1225367,00.html

goodness how do you copyright a tangable item.

I guess we need a copyright on Canadian Bacon..it's very special ya know.

Given the road Italy has taken in terms of copyright law . . . it's only a matter a time before raids on pizza shops occur for "pizza infringement," I guess . . .

You cannot copyright a item or an object, you can only patent them. The name can be copyrighted, thats it. You could still get the pizza anywhere, maybe with a different name or as a Neapolitan style pizza.

Thanks Compmore, for you distinction on copyright. It seems that patents last only 20 years, copyrights seem to last forever.

Imagine if patents were like copyrights. The cost would be outrageous as you would be paying royalties to Damlier-Chrysler for your car, royalties to Goodyear for condoms (Goodyear invented the vulcanization process for rubber), royalties to AT&T for your phone, and royalties to Sperry Univac for the computer you are on right now. Seems pretty silly doesen't it, we do it now with copyrights.

Whoever wrote the article for the guardian is not well informed.

This from the country that gave us feeding Christians to lions.

Hey, they're just trying to define what is real pizza and what isn't. You can still cook pizza any way you want, you just can't claim it to be "genuine Neopolitan pizza".

Just like sparkling wine can't be called "Champagne", unless it was made there, same goes for Cognac.

There's also the Bavarian purity law of 1512, restricting the ingredients in german beer.

There is nothing new or ominous about this

I shall copyright my man chowder

Um... is this a joke? I went to the website, and it's all right there, but ... maybe a hacker put it there or something... I'm too lazy to look and see if I can find the legislation online, if it is even there, but I don't believe this ridiculous story for a second until I see some proof. Either its a really bad joke, or Italy is a screwed up place.

No wonder the Roman empire fell.....
Guess that's what you get for attempting to control too many people. I suppose you could also ask the Russians about that one as well.

Here you go Code.....
http://killeenroos.com/1/Romefall.htm

This comes direct form your fellow Texans in beautiful downtown Killeen TX

Been there done that! and don't miss Ft. Hood a bit.

Hey dead, cool concept, someone should write a science fiction story about someone who tries to copyright their sperm.