Style boundary
Is a canotto rim still Neapolitan?
Does the modern puffed-rim pizza fall outside the Neapolitan tradition?
A live argument inside Naples rather than between Naples and abroad: whether the very tall, airy 'canotto' (dinghy) rim of contemporary pizza is a legitimate evolution of the tradition or a departure from the proportions the standard describes.
PizzaHQ presents both sides and takes no side. Where one named style ends and another begins, when the practice itself varies continuously.
The documented positions
AVPN disciplinare
The standard specifies a rim of roughly 1-2cm. A rim substantially beyond that is outside the specification, whatever else it may be.
Reasoning: The standard exists to fix proportions; a specification that flexes to accommodate each trend would not be one.
Well established- International Regulation for True Neapolitan Pizza (Disciplinare Internazionale) — Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN)
Contemporary Neapolitan pizzaioli and Italian pizza media
Higher hydration, longer maturation and a taller rim are a genuine craft development within the tradition, made by Neapolitan pizzaioli in Naples, and 'pizza contemporanea' is now a recognised category in Italian guides.
Reasoning: Traditions that stop developing become museum pieces; the technique is Neapolitan in origin, method and personnel.
Generally accepted- Gambero Rosso — Italian food and pizza journalism — Gambero Rosso
Why it is contested
It is the general problem of any codified craft: the standard's value comes from not moving, and the craft's vitality comes from moving. Both sides are defending something real.
Related
Evidence
Generally accepted- Gambero Rosso — Italian food and pizza journalism — Gambero Rosso
- International Regulation for True Neapolitan Pizza (Disciplinare Internazionale) — Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN)