Davide Italian Cafe

I truly enjoy discovering new pizza styles. But when you discover a novel pizza style on the gulf, you expect something like “Florida-style pizza” (a medium Domino’s pizza topped with an empty Budweiser can). So I was more than pleasantly surprised to discover rianata - a genuine Sicilian specialty - on the menu at Davide Italian Café on Marco Island.

Rianata is a traditional pizza from Trapani (a port city on the western coast of Sicily) and a relative of Palermo’s better-known sfincione (the grandfather of American square pizza). Historically a product of Sicilian peasant cooking, rianata was made using leftover bread dough and ingredients from pasta dishes. It’s a thick, bread-like pizza topped with tomatoes, anchovies, garlic, pecorino, olive oil, and generous quantities of oregano. Rianata derives from the Sicilian (not Italian) word for oregano.

Davide himself is a Sicilian and brought such authentic food to his Florida menu. His version features tomato sauce, provolone, onions, anchovies, oregano, and olive oil, with a substantial blanket of melted cheese covering the pie. And if you don’t have enough room on your table, it comes served on a plaster Ionic column.

Here, the crust was reasonably well browned and a bit focaccia-like. The combination of anchovies and cheese made for an overwhelmingly salty pizza (and I say that as a well-known salt enthusiast). Ultimately, an interesting introduction to an obscure Sicilian specialty. I’d be curious to try a more traditional version the next time I visit Trapani itself. Perhaps at @pizzeria.aleci?