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Join PMQ and the United States Pizza Team on a brand-new adventure to the birthplace of pizza; Naples, Italy, where they will compete in the 6th Annual International Pizza Championship of Naples!

When you’re in the pizza business, a trip to Italy is almost like a pilgrimage to Mecca. If Italy is the birthplace of our industry, Naples is more like the Eden of pizza. It is where you will find the origins of pizza Margherita, the San Marzano valley, famous for producing the world’s best tomatoes and it is where some of best pizza ingredient manufacturers are located, all right under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. If you have always dreamed of a tour of Italy, then PMQ’s and the U.S. Pizza Team’s 2007 tour of southern Italy is your chance for the trip of a lifetime. 
The tour takes place May 16th through the 24th and is open to anyone who would like to attend and features some tour opportunities you won’t be able to get anywhere but on this trip, such as exclusive tours of the Caputo flour factory, makes of the famous “00” pizza flour, tours of mozzarella factories, Pompeii, a day tour of Rome and a few of the oldest and most famous pizzerias in the world. 

In addition to these exclusive tours, those who would like can attend the 6th Annual International Pizza Championships of Naples, which takes place may 21st and 22nd, and cheer on the U.S. Pizza Team as they compete against the world’s best pizza chefs and acrobatics. This year’s U.S. Pizza Team consists of Jason Samosky from Valley City, Ohio’s Samosky’s Pizza (Culinary), Casey Cole from Pisanello’s Pizza in Franklin, Ohio, (Freestyle Pizza Throwing); Pat Turano from Angelo’s Italian Kitchen in Fairlawn, NJ, (Largest Dough Stretch); and Casey Hensley from Dominos Pizza in Findlay, Ohio, (Fastest Pizza Maker). Not only can you attend, you can compete as well as a non-sponsored U.S. Pizza Team member, so if you think you have what it takes, dust off your pizza peel and contact PMQ about becoming part of the team and the excitement. 

We would like to thank all of the 2007 U.S. Pizza Team sponsors for making this year’s team possible. This year’s Gold Sponsors includes: Bellissimo Foods, Bolla Winery, The California Milk Advisory Board, La Nova Wings, Revention, Paradise Tomato Kitchens. Our Silver Sponsors includes: Bag Solutions, Fontanini Italian Meats & Sausages, Marsal and Sons Ovens, Pizza Equipment Supply, Roma Foods and Throw Dough. Thank you for your continuted support of the U.S. Pizza Team.

While there, the pizzeria tours will visit the city’s oldest pizzeria as well as the pizzeria owned by pizzaiolo Antonio Starita, who represented Italy in PMQ’s America’s Plate competition. In addition to being an award-winning pizza chef, Antonio is also a pizza school cooking instructor in Naples. If you own a pizzeria, you are sure to come home with a notebook packed full of new techniques and recipes that will blow your customers out of their seats. Travelers with the PMQ tour will also visit the historic ruins at Pompeii, a ruined Roman city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania. It was destroyed, and completely buried, during a catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius on the 24th of August in 79 AD.The volcano buried Pompeii under metres of ash, and it was lost for 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. 
In addition to visiting Pompeii, what trip to Italy would be complete without a visit to Rome, which in its day was considered by its inhabitants to be the center of the universe. This trip includes a day trip to Rome, which is the capital city of Italy and of the Lazio region, as well as the country’s largest and most populous city. Rich with history, Rome boast some of the world’s most beautiful archeticture featuring the Vatican (St. Peter’s Basilica and Sistine Chapel), The Colosseum, the Roman Aqueducts along with many other attractions.
If this sounds like the kind of vacation, or personal pilgrimage, you would like to take by yourself or with your family, then you need to act now because the size of the tour group is limited and time is running out. As part of the package you get airfare from New York City, hotel accomodations, ground transportation in Italy, tours, and two meals per day…all for only $2,750. For more information or to book your trip of a lifetime, contact Caroline Felker at 662-234-5481 ext 125 or email her at caroline@pmq.com. And be sure to watch for your photo to appear in PMQ’s Pizza Magazine when we show those who didn’t go what they missed.