A few weeks after opening the doors to Casaro Osteria, owner Francesco Covucci seems more interested in talking soccer than food. His favorite club, Napoli, is on the verge of clinching a league title for the first time since 1990, back when Maradona roamed the pitch for the Blues. 

Covucci ties the Beautiful Sport back to pizza, talking about how as a young man, he’d budget to take the train from his home in Calabria to Naples and buy tickets to a match, leaving him just enough for an affordable meal. He’d pay about 3,000 lire for a pie in Naples before going to a match.