I was watching that new FoodNetwork show last night, The Best Thing I Ever Ate. I really like that show. Just a bunch of chefs that I like sitting around and mooning over the best things they’ve had. Not stuff they love to eat or favorite things, but the best things ever.

It got me thinking. What is the best thing I’ve ever eaten? The one thing that came to mind was pizza.

The best pizza that I have ever had in my life was in Monterrosso al Mere, the northernmost village in Cinque Terre, Italy. Cinque Terre is a collection of 5 villages on the coast of Italy. Each town is small and built into the hillside on the shore. The area surrounding the towns is protected government land, so the cities can’t expand. They are picturesque. There is a walking trail along the water that connects each of the 5 towns. Cinque Terre is the most beautiful place I have ever been.

When I was in college, I spent a semester abroad in London. There I studied Theater, History, and Literature. When spring break rolled around, my roommate and I shot off to Italy. We were followed by most of the other students studying with us, but that is another story.

We spent a few days in a number of cities. Florence, where I had some fettichine carbonara which was also memorable and amazing, Rome, and Venice. In the middle of this, we went to Cinque Terre to get the small town feel. The second day we were there, we decided to do the walking trail between all the towns. We started in Riomaggiore, the Southernmost town where we were staying, and headed north. Along the way we sampled from bakeries and bought wine that we drank on a famous nude beach. (The beach was empty. The water was very cold. We got in anyways. My roommate almost drowned, but I saved her life. The first of 2 times that day.)

By the time that we rolled into Monterrossa al Mere, the group was exhausted. We had been hiking for hours, swimming in the freezing water, getting lost on the hillsides, and drinking wine. I doubt we had water with us. We found this tiny restaraunt that was open. A pizzaria.

Best pizza I have ever, ever had. And I love pizza. I eat it often and from a variety of places. This was the perfect pizza. Maybe I’m biased because of the crazy day, but I’m pretty sure that if I walked into that place right now and had it for breakfast, it would still be perfect.I will try to describe it, but my words seem so small in comparison to the flavors in my memory.

There was nothing complicated about this pizza. Simple and perfect. The pizza had a thin crust. Chewy, yet crisp. The perfect amount of bendiness when you pick up a slice. The base was fresh pesto. Fresh pesto in Italy. To die for. Next up were fresh slices of melty, authentic mozzerella, and the final topping, salami. Big round thin slices that were salty and rich. All the ingrediants were so fresh, so real, so…. well, Italian.

Holy crap.

Hands down, best pizza ever. Possibly the best thing I ever ate.