(ANSA) - An attempt to set the new world record for the longest pizza will be made later this month here in this small city on the upper Adriatic coast.
The plan is to make a 240-meter long 'Rossini pizza', a local speciality named after the composer, which will then be served on a long table set up along the central Viale della Repubblica.
A special oven is being developed for the project which can continuously bake the pizza on a drum so it can be rolled out once done. Timing will be of the essence because the 'Rossini pizza', which has hard-boiled eggs and mayonnaise among its ingredients, must remain crunchy.
According to local town councillor Luca Pieri, "we are out to get this record and preparations for the project are about 90% complete."
The effort to enter the Guinness Book of Records has the backing of the municipal and provincial governments and local associations, which are co-sponsoring the operation together with a local company which makes pizza ovens. The idea to set the Guinness record was advanced by the
company which produces pizza ovens "and we were glad to throw our support behind it. The province, chamber of commerce and local associations have also climbed aboard," Pieri said.
The estimated budget for the project is 50,000 euros. Other Italians towns this summer have also announced plans to set pizza records. After making a 634.5-meter-long sandwich last year, the
town of Mottola in southeast Italy will attempt this week to break the Guinness record for the world's biggest focaccia.
Organizers plan to bake a 425 sqm focaccia, with a diameter of 22 meters, over a three-day period (August 4-6) using two tonnes of flour, 12,000 liters of water, 40kg of salt, 500kg of yeast and 600kg of olive oil.
The project will involve at least 50 volunteers and take some 50 hours to complete, with baking taking place in an open oven to be set up in the town's main square, which measures about five hectares.
Once completed and topped with oregano and fresh tomatoes, which onlookers can throw on, the focaccia is expected to weigh 28 tonnes. Although it is still not certain how many portions will
be made from the giant focaccia, last year's super-sandwich made 19,000 portions, one for every resident of the town.
The world's longest focaccia was baked last May in Genoa by an enterprising pool of bakers who entered the Guinness Book of Records when they produced a 126.34m-long piece of the white pizza.
After the length of the focaccia was officially measured, it was then cut up and served to a crowd along
Genoa's shore front, with donations accepted for the Villa David Chiossone center for the partially blind. The focaccia was made at a speed of seven meters an hour using 400kg of flour, 250 kg of extra virgin olive oil, 8kg of salt and a lot of water.
