On a flight back from Nairobi, Kenya to Washington D.C. on February 27, U.S. First Lady Jill Biden made a pizza stopover in Naples. As the Executive One Foxtrot plane refueled at the Capodichino US naval base, the First Lady ordered 19 pizzas for her and her entourage, according to Wanted in Rome.
As the plane was landing in Naples, Biden phoned in the order to Pizzaria La Notizia 53, a local pizzeria made famous to American audiences after being featured on Stanley Tucci’s CNN series “Searching for Italy.” Biden ordered 10 Margherita pizzas and nine pizze alla diavola, which are regular pizzas topped with large slices of spicy salami. The pies were prepared and delivered to the US military base by the restaurant’ owner Enzo Coccia, according to Wanted in Rome. Coccia was requested to make the delivery at precisely 9:30 p.m. After the First Lady’s entourage had secured the pizzas, they continued on with their flight back home to Washington D.C.
(Photo Credit: Wanted in Rome)
Coccia is no stranger to celebrities, and has welcomed scores of VIP clients to his pizzeria in the past, including Roberto Benigni, Paolo Sorrentino, and Diego Maradona. But Biden’s personal pizza call was something new. “I’ve even had a French minister who is a member of the ECB [visit],” he said to Il Mattino, an Italian newspaper. “But never a first lady as important as Mrs. Biden. She is certainly the greatest satisfaction of my life.”
The pizza maker and restaurateur went on to thank Tucci’s “Searching for Italy” for putting his pizzeria on Americans’ radars. “Thanks to that [show], I, who don't speak a word of English, have become very famous in the United States, to the point that in a few weeks I will be there for a series of meetings,” he said to Il Mattino.Asia London Palomba
Asia London Palomba is a trilingual freelance journalist from Rome, Italy. In the past, her work on culture, travel, and history has been published in The Boston Globe, Atlas Obscura, The Christian Science Monitor, and Grub Street, New York Magazine's food section. In her free time, Asia enjoys traveling home to Italy to spend time with family and friends, drinking Hugo Spritzes, and making her nonna's homemade cavatelli.