A slice of pizza nostalgia in São Paulo, Brazil

In this most Italian of Brazilian cities, Castelões pizzeria serves staples that constitute a trip down memory lane for locals

To eat at Cantina Castelões is to visit a São Paulo that otherwise now lives only in black-and-white photos: a time when warehouses sat alongside homes, and horses and trams ruled the streets. This was a city where every corner hid gastronomic specialities produced by immigrants from Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Portugal and Germany – all fleeing misery and war.

São Paulo’s oldest pizzeria, founded in 1924, serves the original São Paulo pizza, a mix of Roman and Neapolitan influences, sprinkled with Brazilian generosity. Big enough to feed four, the pizza has puffed, lightly toasted edges, elastic dough and, often, Brazilian toppings such as creamy Catupiry cheese, pulled chicken and corn alongside traditional ingredients. It’s this fusion that encapsulates the city.