pizzaiola

1 of 2

noun

piz·​za·​io·​la ˌpēt-sə-ˈyō-lə 

plural pizzaiolas or pizzaiole ˌpēt-sə-ˈyō-(ˌ)lā 

1

: a pizza maker : pizzaiolo

I've made hundreds of oven-baked pizzas and consider myself a pretty skilled pizzaiola, but my first attempt at grilled pizza was a nightmare.

—Matthew Card

specifically : a female pizza maker

Sophia Loren, who portrayed a pizzaiola selling fried pizza in the 1954 film classic The Gold of Naples …

—Daniel Young

2

: a tomato sauce incorporating olive oil, garlic, and oregano that is typically paired with meat or pasta

… ricotta and spinach dumpling with pizzaiola.

—The (London) Evening Standard

pizzaiola

2 of 2

adjective

: prepared with a pizzaiola tomato sauce (see pizzaiola entry 1 sense 2)

—used postpositively

Cooking up an Italian veal pizzaiola with baked potatoes …

—Annita Katee

Dishes include tuna croquette with puttanesca sauce, spaghetti and clams, polenta with scallops and citrus and monkfish pizzaiola.

—Leeanne Griffin

Examples of pizzaiola in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

To demonstrate, Sarah, like a pizzaiola tossing a pie, flips a large sheet of spinach dough onto the clunky old contraption. —New York Times, 10 Feb. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from Italian, feminine of pizzaiolo, pizzaiuolo pizzaiolo; in sense 2, noun derivative of pizzaiola pizzaiola entry 2

Adjective

borrowed from Italian, short for alla pizzaiola (Neapolitan dialect â pizzaiòla), literally, "in the manner of a pizza-maker"

First Known Use

Noun

1999, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1932, in the meaning defined above