Italy divided over new pineapple pizza

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Anyone who's set foot in Italy knows there are unwritten rules that one must abide by - and the most important of all revolve around food. Cappuccino after 11 a.m.? Only for tourists. Spaghetti bolognese? A horrifying thought. Pineapple on your pizza? Heresy - at least, it was until now.

But 2024 might just be the year that pineapple pizza cracks Italy, thanks to Gino Sorbillo, the renowned Naples pizzaiolo (pizza maestro) who has added the dreaded "ananas" to his menu in Via dei Tribunali, the best known pizza street in the world capital of pizza.

Sorbillo's creation, called "Margherita con Ananas" costs 7 euros ($7.70). But this isn't your regular Hawaiian: it is a pizza bianca, denuded of its tomato layer, sprinkled with no fewer than three types of cheese, with the pineapple cooked twice for a caramelized feel.

Sorbillo, a third-generation pizzaiolo, told CNN that he created it to "combat food prejudice."

"Sadly people follow the crowd and condition themselves according to other people's views, or what they hear," he said.

"I've noticed in the last few years that lots of people were condemning ingredients or ways of preparing food purely because in the past most people didn't know them, so I wanted to put these disputed ingredients - that are treated like they're poison - onto a Neapolitan pizza, making them tasty."