MAMMÈLA – LA CUCINA DELLA MASARDONA: The Piccirillo family’s new high-end catering project combines popular roots and sophisticated contexts, memory and contemporaneity.
After more than eighty years of history dedicated to the art of fried pizza, the Piccirillo family is starting a new chapter with Mammèla – La cucina della Masardona, a catering and restaurant project of excellence for private, corporate, and luxury events. An experience that transforms special occasions into moments of authentic Neapolitan hospitality, bringing the family’s culinary tradition to exclusive settings.
Mammèla is much more than a brand: it is the affectionate nickname of Carmela Pintauro, daughter-in-law of the legendary Anna Manfredi, known as “La Masardona,” mother of Enzo Piccirillo and grandmother of Cristiano and Salvatore. A central figure in the family’s history, Carmela represents the silent soul of a cuisine made of absolute dedication, the domestic and deeply emotional one of sauces that simmer for hours, carefully chosen ingredients, and time as a fundamental ingredient.
With Mammèla, the Piccirillo family brings this legacy outside the home and translates it into a tailor-made catering project. Not just a simple gastronomic service, but an experience built on the idea of hospitality, capable of making every guest feel part of an authentic table, wherever it is set. The culinary offering explores the vast repertoire of classic Neapolitan cuisine, going beyond fried pizza to embrace iconic dishes from land and sea, recipes from memory, and traditional pastries. The formats are flexible and tailor-made: from placè service to buffets, to themed stations where the symbolic dishes of the Neapolitan tradition are presented and prepared live, reinterpreted with moderation and respect.
Mammèla caters to a discerning international audience, those who want private events that feel like “home” with impeccable execution, companies that want to offer distinctive convivial experiences, and the world of fashion and luxury, capable of translating the great pop heritage of Neapolitan tradition into a unique and exclusive story.
Every Mammèla project is signed by the Piccirillo family, always present alongside a team trained in the original recipes handed down over time by Grandma Carmela. “Mammela was not only our grandmother’s nickname, but it represented and continues to represent her love for her family,” says Salvatore Piccirillo, fourth generation and spokesperson for the brand.
“Mammela was the scent of Genovese sauce wafting up the stairs, the meticulous care taken in choosing the right tomatoes for Sunday’s ragù. If Masardona is the art of frying that has made us famous around the world, Mammela is the soul of our home cooking. We wanted to bring the intangible heritage of gestures and flavors of our home cooking to corporate or gala events, in a form capable of dialoguing with the world of exclusive parties and contemporary hospitality.”
Each experience thus becomes a coherent gastronomic narrative, capable of uniting popular roots and sophisticated contexts, memory and contemporaneity. Mammèla is a new grammar of Neapolitan taste: warm but elegant, authentic but contemporary, designed for those seeking authenticity, identity, and true stories to bring to the table.
A project that confirms Masardona as one of the rare Italian gastronomic brands capable of evolving without betraying itself, bringing with it an idea of cuisine that is first and foremost about relationships, time, and care.
MASARDONA: THE STORY
Masardona is a family story spanning four generations, a journey that begins in post-war Naples and leads to major international events. It all began in 1945 with Anna Manfredi, known as la masardona (the messenger), the paternal grandmother of Enzo Piccirillo. Once a week, armed with a gas burner and a simple kitchen table, she would fry pizzas in front of her house, giving life to a tradition that was destined to become legendary.
Her legacy was taken up by her daughter-in-law Carmela Pintauro and son Salvatore Piccirillo, Enzo’s parents, who between 1975 and 1980 transformed a warehouse they owned into the current historic headquarters, taking fried pizza from a domestic setting to a real commercial activity.
With the third generation, that of Enzo Piccirillo, Masardona took a decisive step towards fame: starting in the 2000s, thanks to collaborations with Michelin-starred chefs, Enzo reevaluated fried pizza, elevating it from a neighborhood specialty to a gastronomic excellence recognized throughout Naples and beyond. The evolution continues with the fourth generation: on March 25, 2018, Enzo’s eldest son, Salvatore Piccirillo, opened the Piazza Vittoria location, in the heart of Naples, marking Masardona’s entry into the world of events and catering.
In September 2020, his brother Cristiano Piccirillo opened the Rome location, introducing Neapolitan oven-baked pizza to the menu alongside the historic fried pizza. With this new generation, the brand has established itself on an international scale, bringing its tradition to prestigious events such as the G7 in Naples, Giorgio Armani celebrations, Mercedes events, the Monza Golf Open, Gastronomika in 2014, and the FoodTruck Park in Riyadh in 2023. Today, after eighty years, Masardona continues to represent the excellence of Neapolitan fried pizza, demonstrating that passion, quality, and respect for one’s roots can transform a simple disc of fried dough into a timeless gastronomic icon.
ADDRESSES:
- MASARDONA NAPLES – Via Giulio Cesare Capaccio, 27
- MASARDONA NAPLES – Piazza Vittoria, 5
- MASARDONA ROME Piazza dell’Oro, 6
