While many pizza options we love in the UK hail from southern Italy, northern Italian pizza toppings offer a delectable array of lesser-known star ingredients you're sure to love. Flavours in the North are simple, savoury and incredibly moreish. If you're heading there on holiday, make sure to try as many of these pizza toppings as possible!
Porcini (aka. ceps)
Porcini mushrooms - pictured above - are widely grown and eaten in Northern Italy. Emilia Romagna even hosts a national porcini festival in their honour! And for good reason.
As a pizza topping, they are incredibly soft and pack a satisfying umami punch. If you're accustomed to button mushrooms on your pizza, you'll be astounded by just how much more luxurious and silky porcini are.
Despite having a high-end feel and flavour, porcini are surprisingly affordable as a pizza topping too.
Speck
Speck, smokey cured pork made in the mountainous South Tyrol region in northeast of Italy, has been around since the Middle Ages. It's firmer than prosciutto or salame, and slightly chewier too.
Like prosciutto, speck is usually arranged on a pizza in wide, flat strips. However, it holds its own much better thanks to its meatier characteristics which contrast well with creamy mozzarella.
Not only is this among the tastiest northern Italian pizza ingredients but it's also harder to find outside the country. So make sure and try it while you're there! But be careful - you might just not be able to get enough of it!
Salame dolce
While southern Italy boasts some delicious salami piccanti (spicy salami), the North is all about salame dolce (sweet salame), flavoured with garlic and herbs.
If you're new to the country, you'll be wowed by the high quality of meat on a standard northern Italian salame pizza. The slices of meat are wide and thick. As such, they hold their own to that you can slice up your pizza without the salame sliding around too much.
If you're ever in Ferrara, I highly recommend trying salame zia if you get the chance. In fact, I love this Northern Italian salame so much that I named it as one of my list of essential traditional foods to try in Ferrara.
Pizza carbonara
Carbonara is mostly associated with central and southern Italy. However, I found that 'pizza carbonara' was widely available in the North as a fun option at pizzerias.
As you might expect, it features meat and, of course, egg. Usually, a single egg is cracked onto the middle of the pizza. If done right, the yolk will be soft, meaning you can dip your crusts in it or spread it on the pizza!
Sardines
If you're ever in Liguria, make sure to try a Sardenaira. Dairy-free and addictively salty, it's great traditional choice if you're feeling a little cheesed out after too much mozzarella.
On a pizza sardenaria, sardines are paired with capers, olives and garlic. The combination is remeniscent of puttanesca and is super moreish. Not to mention that sardines are packed with omega-3 fatty acids!
Salsiccia (sausage)
If you're new to real Italian pizzas, you may be confused to order 'sausage pizza' and receive a one with little piles of crumbled sausage meat on top rather than slices of sausage.
The result is juicy and delectable. Definitely something to try if you love meat pizza but want a textural change from salami, speck and prosciutto.
Sausage on pizza, especially in the North, is sweet rather than spicy. If you want something with a bit of heat to it, a great southern equivalent would be nduja paste, which I found was widely available in the North.
Honourable mentions...
Grana
As far as Northern Italian pizza toppings go, grana is one of the most basic. Originating from the Po River Valley, it's not only local to the North but goes well with just about every single other pizza topping you'll find there.
I recommend trying it with some salame dolce, which I had the chance to in Ferrara this year. It was definitely a pizza highlight of the whole trip, despite being such a simple combination!
Artichokes
Now one more for the vegetarians!
Artichokes, or carciofi, are a beloved pizza topping throughout the country. You see them mainly on multi-topping pizzas like pizza capricciosa - one of the best southern Italian pizza options - but they're also great on their own.
Like porcini, artichokes are silky and juicy, blending into the mozzarella perfectly rather than just sitting on top. If you're vegetarian and looking for a new traditional option to try, definitely give artichokes a chance as they're more exciting than they look!
