pizzaiola

1 of 2

noun

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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

Time Traveler
The first known use of pizzaiola was in 1932

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Pizzaiola.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pizzaiola. Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.

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