This is the 3rd installment of My Towns – Cleveland, Rochester, and Napoli. Since we’ll be in Napoli in a couple of weeks, I want to explore more there. Cleveland is a good (but not great, sounds like a pizza review!) sports town. Rochester is a meh (again, pizza review!) sports town, but Napoli is incredible!
Cleveland has the big 3 sports of American football, baseball, and basketball, but little else. Rochester has golf (is that really a sport?) and seems to be a basketball town (basketball is irrelevant to me).
Rochester used to be a GREAT soccer town with its massive immigrant population. The great North American Soccer League (think Pele and the NY Cosmos) had a professional team here, the Lancers (see link). It’s debated locally that the Lancers lost credibility with Southern Italian immigrants when the Lancers signed a former Juventus (Juve Merda) player.
And, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) had an originating team here, the Western NY Flash (see link). The 2011 Flash team (see link) likely had the most talented women’s team ever with players like Marta, Christine Sinclair, Alex Morgan, and several others that were on their countries’ World Cup rosters.
But, oh Napoli, European football (soccer) is at another level.
Table of Contents
D10S
In Napoli, the deceased calciatore (soccer player) Maradona is revered throughout la’ citta (the city, female gender), there are pictures, building sized murals, and shrines. La’ citta is so crazy about Maradona, that one café (coffee shop) has a shrine with a lock of Maradona’s hair (supposedly), plucked from the head rest on an airplane (supposedly), requires that you buy an expresso in order to view their shrine (and yes, we’ve been there)!
Further, the word Dios, god (God?) has been adjusted to account for the number 10 worn by Maradona for Napoli and Argentina. Due to his godlike playing ability, Dios has become D10S.
So, in the spirit of Napoli and D10S, I present today’s Nebalatan Word of the Day! And further down a new Rochester area pizza review.
Nebalatan Word/Phrase of the Day – OH DI!
Oh Di! / Oh Di Mi! (pronounced – O Dee / O Dee Me) – Oh, God! / Oh My God! (Italian phrase – Dios Mi)
In my case, this was used almost exclusively by Ma (Grandma Joanne), but I believe that I can vaguely remember my Grandmother Loretta using this expression to greet us as grandchildren believing that she saw god/God when she saw us!
- Used in context with Ma (Grandma Joanne) and Dad (Grandpa Tony)- another true story (mostly)
- Me – gets hurt on the football field
- Ma – who’s in the stands, “Oh Di! OH DI MI! Tony, is Michael hurt?”
- Dad – “I can’t tell. Probably not.”
- Me – still laying on the field, coaches and trainers coming onto the field from the sidelines
- Ma – running from the stands, “Oh Di! Oh DI! OH DI! DI! DI!” Beating the coaches and trainer onto the field.
- Coach – “Mrs. V, you shouldn’t be on the field!”
- Ma – ignoring the coaches,“OH DI! OH DI! OH DI! DI! DI! DI……..” and refusing to leave!
With football season (both American and European) starting, this story seems appropriate.
BTW – When my kids were hurt in college football and calcio (soccer), I was first to the sideline too!
Fiamma Centro (website) – Rochester, NY
Full Purchased Pizza Table of 100+ Pizzeria Reviews (click here).
| Rating | Go Back? | Dough | Sauce | Cheese | Presentation | Notes |
| Good | Maybe | Nice Neapolitan crust with puffy cornicione and wonderful char. Unfortunately, the middle of the crust was under cooked (possibly due to veggies, but no excuses if you want to charge that much). This center mushiness kept this pizza from being great | Good quantity and good taste | Lots of “normal (cow’s milk”) moozedell which lacks the taste of buffalo moozedell – TOO Bad, they’re close | Nice presentation on stainless steel tray at table. Unfortunately, with 4 other pizzas and drinks, the table was much too small, umbrella did little to block blazing sun | At $18, one would expect a true artisan pizza, but they missed on too many factors |
This review is old. I took the notes, but never had a chance to do a write-up.
In July 2022, we tried Fiamma Centro in the Park Avenue neighborhood of the city of Rochester, NY. Fiamma Centro came at the recommendation of family, so I took a look at their website before going. The website shows that the owner is from Campania (which is a very good thing), but from Salerno (and doesn’t like Napoli soccer), AND they have a true Neapolitan wood-fired oven.
At that time, with Covid on the wane, and with our pregnant daughter-in-law, we chose to sit outside. This was great except our table umbrella did little to block that day’s blazing sun. Hopefully, the pizza would make up for this misfortune. After a glass of wine and appetizer, I ordered their Capriccioso pizza, which is moozedell, mushrooms, “parmacotto” (a fancy, Italianized, name for regular ole’ baked ham), and olives.
The server delivered a Neapolitan style pizza with a nice crust, puffy cornicione, and great char. But the middle of the crust was undercooked, which was a letdown, maybe because of the extra water of the veggies, but no excuses for the price they charge.
The sauce was good in quantity and taste, but they used “normal (cow’s milk)” moozedell, not the flavorful buffalo moozedell.
The presentation on a stainless steel tray was nice, but with four other pizzas and drinks, the table was too small while the sun continued to blaze both causing discomfort.
Speaking of the price, $18 for a pizza had me expecting true artisan quality, but they missed the mark on a few things.
Overall, Fiamma Centro was good, not great. I might go back. At their price point, it’s better than other pizzerias in this vicinity in the City of Rochester, but I expect more than a watery crust.
You must be logged in to post a comment.