Italy dishes up world record with longest ever pizza

LONGEST PIZZA. Italy's judge of the Guinness World Record Lorenzo Veltri measures the length of the Pizza to be the longest in the world with 1600m long, on June 20 in Milan at the Expo Milano 2015. Photo by Olivier Morin/AFP

Guinness World Records judge Lorenzo Veltri handed Italy the crown for a 1,595.45 meters (5,234 feet) long masterpiece made with 1,500 kilos of tomatoes, over one and a half tons of mozzarella and a river of extravirgin olive oil.

The 80 chefs from all over Italy who took part in the creation snatched the title from Spain, which had held the record with a pizza 1,141.5 meters long.

Admiring crowds in Milan gathered alongside the cheese-topped bonanza, which was stretched out over 800 tables, before hungrily getting in line for a slice.

It was first come first served for the 30,000 or so visitors to the Expo, with 300 metres of the pizza destined for the city's Banco Alimentare food bank.

The Italian delicacy, which took 3 minutes to cook per meter and was prepared in 5 special-adapted ovens, was made to celebrate the 126th anniversary of the margherita.

The recipe was first whipped up in 1889 by cook Raffaele Esposito of the Brandi pizzeria in the grand Bourbon palace in Naples in southern Italy – a summer residence for the kings of the Two Sicilies – for Queen Regina Margherita.

Pizza-lovers hope winning the record will help boost international support for Italy's bid to get the classic dish on the UNESCO cultural heritage list, with pizza associations gathering over 300,000 signatures so far. – Rappler.com