Naples is the birthplace of pizza and still the place to eat it. True Neapolitan pizza is made with a specific dough (00 flour, fresh yeast, long rise), cooked for 60-90 seconds in a 485°C wood-fired oven, and served immediately — charred, soft, slightly wet in the centre. Any pizzeria with a queue of locals is probably the real thing. Da Michele (Via Cesare Sersale, 1) serves only two kinds — Margherita and marinara — and has done so since 1870. Sorbillo (Via dei Tribunali, 32) is the best-known alternative and worth the wait. Di Matteo (Via dei Tribunali, 94) does an excellent fried pizza, a Neapolitan specialty. A simple Margherita at any of these costs €5-€8.
Beyond pizza, the city's food is emphatically of the south — tomato-heavy, seafood-forward, pasta as the centrepiece of the meal. Signature dishes include spaghetti alle vongole (with clams), ziti al ragù (the slow-cooked Sunday meat sauce), pasta alla Genovese (onion-heavy beef sauce), and friarielli (bitter greens, usually served with sausage or on pizza). Street food is excellent: cuoppi of fried seafood, sfogliatelle from the pasticcerie, taralli with almonds and pepper, and pizza a portafoglio (folded slice eaten while walking).
The Chiaia district has the most restaurants aimed at visitors; for more local places, head into the historic centre or the working-class Sanità district, where you will eat well for very little. Tandem (Via Paladino, 51) specialises in the great Neapolitan ragù. Trattoria da Nennella in the Spanish Quarter is loud, chaotic, cheap, and utterly Neapolitan.
Finish with one of the city's pastries — sfogliatella (crisp shell, ricotta and candied citrus filling), babà (rum-soaked yeast cake), pastiera (Easter tart of wheat, ricotta, and orange), or struffoli (honey-glazed fried dough balls at Christmas) — and an espresso at the bar. Neapolitan coffee is famously dark and cheap; Gran Caffè Gambrinus on Piazza del Plebiscito is the classic address.