Donatella Arpaia Getting into the Neapolitan Pizza Game

Donatella Arpaia outside her upcoming restaurant, Donatella, with a ton (or more) of bricks for her oven. [Photograph: Joshua Bright/Diner's Journal]

Looks like restaurateur and frequent Iron Chef America judge Donatella Arpaia is getting into the Neapolitan pizza game. According to this story on the New York Times's Diner's Journal blog, she's having bricks, sand, and cement all imported from Naples to build her oven and is bringing in the requisite Neapolitan oven-builders to construct it. But probably what's most interesting is that she's going to be studying pizza-making under Enzo Coccia of Pizzeria La Notizia in Naples for several weeks.

"I'm not a phony," Arpaia told the Times. "I need to learn how to make the best Neapolitan pizza. This is something you can't fake."

So, here you go ... after the jump, some videos of Coccia's pizza-making — if you are a huge pizza nerd and care about these things.

Enzo Coccia Stretching Dough

Enzo Coccia Building the Pies

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