# Pizza bianca
**Pizza bianca** (Italian for "white pizza") is a Roman salted, olive-oiled flatbread baked without tomato sauce, sold in bakeries by weight and eaten plain or split and filled as a sandwich. In Rome it is a breakfast and street-food staple, and the name is also used more broadly for any pizza made without tomato sauce.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| What it is | A Roman flatbread of flour, water, yeast, olive oil, and salt, baked without tomato sauce; the English name in the Italian food composition tables is "Pizza, white"[1](https://www.alimentinutrizione.it/tabelle-nutrizionali/000700) |
| Energy density | 306 kcal per 100 g, with 57.9 g available carbohydrate, 7.9 g protein, and 5.9 g fat; a standard 50 g portion supplies 154 kcal[1](https://www.alimentinutrizione.it/tabelle-nutrizionali/000700) |
| Salt content | 789 mg of sodium per 100 g, or 395 mg in a 50 g portion[1](https://www.alimentinutrizione.it/tabelle-nutrizionali/000700) |
| How it is sold | By weight at Roman forni (bakeries), cut from the tray with scissors; pizza bianca and pizza rossa are grabbed by weight at Forno Campo de' Fiori[2](https://www.travelandleisure.com/best-forni-in-rome-local-expert-11955466) |
| Signature sandwich | Split and filled with mortadella, known in Roman dialect as *er panino co' la mortazza*[3](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-mortadella/) |
| Documented anchor | Forno Campo de' Fiori in central Rome opened in 1819 and has made the same blistered salt-and-oil flatbread on the same site[4](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-fichi/) |
## The Roman flatbread
In Rome, pizza bianca is a bread rather than a topped pie. It is a blistered, oiled flatbread pulled fresh from the oven, salted on the surface, and eaten on the go; Travel + Leisure describes it as a normal breakfast staple in the city, distinct from the round, cheese-covered pie most people picture as pizza[2](https://www.travelandleisure.com/best-forni-in-rome-local-expert-11955466). Roman forni sell it alongside pizza rossa (the tomato-sauce version), pizza alla pala, bread, and pastries[2](https://www.travelandleisure.com/best-forni-in-rome-local-expert-11955466).
Sold by weight, cut with scissors. At a forno counter, a length of pizza bianca is pulled off the tray with kitchen scissors, weighed, and handed over; a filled version is split open lengthwise with a single cut, lined with the filling, folded in half across its width, and wrapped in greaseproof paper with the weight written in pencil on the corner[3](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-mortadella/).
## Fillings and the mortazza
The plain flatbread is the base of Rome's everyday counter sandwiches. The most common order is filled with raw cured ham, prosciutto crudo; a variant with cooked ham, prosciutto cotto, gives a milder result[5](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-prosciutto/). Mortadella, the pink Bolognese pork sausage sliced thin by hand, is the classic pairing, and the combination is a long-standing Roman afternoon-snack habit[3](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-mortadella/). In the city's own dialect the sandwich is *er panino co' la mortazza*, and locals order it as "pizza e mortazza"[3](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-mortadella/) • [6](https://untolditaly.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Episode-231-transcript-Roman-Pizza-What-to-try-and-where-to-taste-5th-Jul-2024.pdf).
A seasonal build appears in late summer: pizza bianca opened and layered with prosciutto crudo and split figs, sold by the etto (100 g) from August to October[4](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-fichi/). The open template, called pizza bianca farcita, takes whatever filling the customer names[7](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-farcita/).
## Where it is made
Forno Campo de' Fiori, an always-busy counter on Piazza Campo de' Fiori in the historic center, opened in 1819 and is taken as the documentary anchor for the modern version of the bread[2](https://www.travelandleisure.com/best-forni-in-rome-local-expert-11955466) • [4](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-fichi/). Antico Forno Roscioli, another well-known stop, dates back to the 1800s; the Roscioli family took over in the early 1970s[2](https://www.travelandleisure.com/best-forni-in-rome-local-expert-11955466). Pierluigi Roscioli, the third-generation baker behind Antico Forno Roscioli, says pizza romana originated in bread bakeries as a humble snack, served bianca (plain) or red with tomato sauce[8](https://monorepo-sample1.nyt.net/2026/07/28/travel/pizza-romana-rome-recommendations.html). Panificio Bonci, a tightly packed traditional Roman bakery, serves its pizza bianca in pieces or sliced open for sandwiches[9](https://www.cntraveler.com/restaurants/rome/panificio-bonci).
Katie Parla, a Rome-based culinary guide, television and podcast host, and author of *Rome: A Culinary History, Cookbook, and Field Guide to the Flavors That Built a City*, recommends starting at the old-school forni of the historic center for the classic version[2](https://www.travelandleisure.com/best-forni-in-rome-local-expert-11955466).
## Nutrition
[The Italian](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-italian) food composition tables (CREA, Centro di ricerca Alimenti e Nutrizione, last updated December 2019) list pizza bianca in the cereals and derivatives category with 100% edible portion and a 50 g standard portion[1](https://www.alimentinutrizione.it/tabelle-nutrizionali/000700). Per 100 g it contains 27.8 g water, 306 kcal (1,282 kJ), 7.9 g protein, 5.9 g fat, 57.9 g available carbohydrate (of which 50.7 g starch and 2.1 g soluble sugars), and 2.3 g total fiber[1](https://www.alimentinutrizione.it/tabelle-nutrizionali/000700). Cholesterol is recorded as 0 mg, consistent with a plain bread made without cheese or animal fat[1](https://www.alimentinutrizione.it/tabelle-nutrizionali/000700).
The sodium figure is high: 789 mg per 100 g, so a 50 g portion delivers 395 mg[1](https://www.alimentinutrizione.it/tabelle-nutrizionali/000700). The Italian National Health Institute (ISS) notes that pizza in general is rich in salt and should be watched by people with hypertension, high blood glucose, type 2 diabetes, or high blood lipids[10](https://www.issalute.it/index.php/la-salute-dalla-a-alla-z-menu/p/pizza).
## How it compares
Per 100 g, pizza bianca is more energy-dense than its sauced relatives: CREA's comparison gives 306 kcal for pizza bianca against 248 kcal for pizza marinara (tomato only) and 255 kcal for pizza margherita (tomato and mozzarella)[10](https://www.issalute.it/index.php/la-salute-dalla-a-alla-z-menu/p/pizza). The difference comes mainly from water and carbohydrate: pizza bianca holds 27.8 g of water and 57.9 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, while marinara holds 41.3 g of water and 40.7 g of carbohydrate[10](https://www.issalute.it/index.php/la-salute-dalla-a-alla-z-menu/p/pizza). Scaled to a 350 g whole pizza, the CREA table puts pizza bianca at 1,071 kcal against 868 kcal for marinara and 892.5 kcal for margherita[10](https://www.issalute.it/index.php/la-salute-dalla-a-alla-z-menu/p/pizza).
The name also covers a different dish outside Italy. The French "pizza blanche" popularized by French recipes replaces the tomato sauce with a base of thick crème fraîche (14 to 15% fat) and is then garnished like a classic pizza with cheese, ham, mushrooms, or combinations such as pears and gorgonzola; the French guide stresses that in Rome pizza bianca is above all a street bread, not a pizza in the French sense[11](https://fourapizzalab.fr/guides/pizza-bianca/).
## References
1. [Pizza bianca, Tabelle di Composizione degli Alimenti, CREA-AlimentiNUTrizione](https://www.alimentinutrizione.it/tabelle-nutrizionali/000700)
2. [Romans Eat Pizza for Breakfast—and These Bakeries Are the Best Places to Try It, Travel + Leisure](https://www.travelandleisure.com/best-forni-in-rome-local-expert-11955466)
3. [Pizza Bianca con Mortadella — Italy, onesandwich](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-mortadella/)
4. [Pizza Bianca con Fichi — Italy, onesandwich](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-fichi/)
5. [Pizza Bianca con Prosciutto — Italy, onesandwich](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-con-prosciutto/)
6. [Episode 231 transcript - Roman Pizza, Untold Italy](https://untolditaly.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Episode-231-transcript-Roman-Pizza-What-to-try-and-where-to-taste-5th-Jul-2024.pdf)
7. [Pizza Bianca Farcita — Italy, onesandwich](https://onesandwich.com/pizza-bianca-farcita/)
8. [Rome Is Experiencing a Pizza Renaissance, The New York Times](https://monorepo-sample1.nyt.net/2026/07/28/travel/pizza-romana-rome-recommendations.html)
9. [Panificio Bonci — Restaurant Review, Condé Nast Traveler](https://www.cntraveler.com/restaurants/rome/panificio-bonci)
10. [Pizza: gastronomia mediterranea o cibo spazzatura?, ISSalute (Istituto Superiore di Sanità)](https://www.issalute.it/index.php/la-salute-dalla-a-alla-z-menu/p/pizza)
11. [Pizza bianca : la vraie recette romaine (sans crème), Four à Pizza Lab](https://fourapizzalab.fr/guides/pizza-bianca/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Food, customs, and everyday culture › Food, cooking and hospitality › Dishes, foods, and foodstuffs › Breads, flatbreads, and baked staple foods*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license