Throwing back to sunnier times, circa 1988 with Mike and Marc in the kitchen, and dear Umberto (Nonno) front of house. Mike (Andreina’s husband) and Marc formed a formidable partnership together in the kitchen spanning a 15-year period. Originally a successful builder, Mike made the decision to join the family business as he had always harboured ambitions to work with food, and loved the atmosphere and camaraderie within the pizzeria. A real character who had a passion for Italian food, it turns out Mike had an unlikely talent in the kitchen as a chef under Umberto’s guidance. Sadly Mike is not with us anymore but he’s always in our thoughts and his heart will always be in the pizzeria.

Happy Pizza Day all!

A day devoted to one of our favourite foods, what could be better? To celebrate one of our favourite dishes, we wanted to share some of the secrets you knead-to-know (sorry, we couldn’t resist) to creating the perfect dough to help you achieve the perfect pizza. #ItsAllAboutTheBase

1) 00 Flour (double zero flour)

The best pizza starts with the best flour. Here at Pizzeria Villaggio, we use Mugnai di Napoli flour which is a certified traditional Neapolitan pizza flour and has been used by Neapolitans for over 110 years. Double zero flour is perfect for creating pizza dough because of its gluten content, and because of how finely the flour is milled – which helps create a light, crispy base with thick crusts.

2) Cold proofing

Good things come to those who wait, and pizza dough is no exception. Our team prepares all our pizza dough 24 hours before in the fridge. This is called “Cold-proofing”. It slows down the fermentation, allowing the yeast to work on the sugars in the flour. A 24-hour proof time helps the dough to develop a complex structure, creating a deeper flavour and added texture. Shaping the dough into balls whilst they’re cold also prevents excess air from escaping, resulting in beautifully bubbly crusts and a crispy pizza base when cooked.

3) Fresh Yeast

This is essential for getting those bubbly crusts and crispy pizza bases mentioned above. Not only is yeast essential for the dough to rise and for creating those air pockets which result in the perfect texture, but fresh yeast adds an extra flavour that dried yeast doesn’t – this subtle, but distinct flavour can take your pizza base to the next level, so don’t forget to add fresh yeast to your shopping list.

Fancy pizza for dinner?

We’ve got you covered. You can enjoy a tasty vegan or vegetarian pizza from Pizzeria Villaggio – choose from Margherita, Vegetarania, the Palladino pizza, or design your own, and we’ll sort out the rest. Our pizza dough is vegan-friendly, plus we can use vegan cheese to build your perfect pizza.

We also offer meat-free, plant-based alternatives for many of our dishes (not just our pizzas). With everything made fresh, we are happy to create your veggie, vegan, or gluten-free friendly takeaway, just call us on the day you wish to order from 4 pm (telephone number: 029 2061 3110) and we’ll get your meal ready.

“We don’t like cricket – we love it!”

We’re very proud to announce that we have sponsored Whitchurch Heath Cricket Club. The club was first established in 1927, and have their first friendly match against Kilve CC on Sunday 18th April. We look forward to supporting them and to being able to see the sport resume again after what has been a difficult year for many. We wish everyone involved good luck for the season ahead and shall be hoping that the British weather doesn’t interrupt play!

To find out more about Whitchurch Heath Cricket Club, head to their website at https://whitchurch-heath.play-cricket.com/home

As we come to the end of our 4th week of re-opening the pizzeria, following the forced lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all my staff for your hard work and enthusiasm in getting yourselves back into work and coming together like the great team which you are. I would also like to thank my customers for your loyalty, support, and understanding.

The last 5 months have been some of the most testing for our small family business in the 34 years we have been trading. Closing the doors was upsetting for me, as it was the first time we have shut since my father opened the pizzeria in 1986, but it was the right thing to do. During lockdown I took the decision to refurbish the restaurant, and post lockdown re-opening has been just as difficult for a few reasons; not being able to trade for 18 weeks has put an enormous strain on us financially, every member of staff has had to learn how to operate within a new kitchen environment and familiarise themselves with the new pizza ovens. Every member of staff has been required to adapt to a new process so we can keep our customers as safe as possible. My staff are nervous about their own safety as we are still living in the unknown, and it’s been a huge demand on my own energy to get this show back on the road.

I realise that we have not been perfect in delivering our service to you and we have made one or two mistakes in the last few weeks, can I ask you all for a favour? Please, if you can – be patient with us. We are immensely proud of our food and the service we deliver, and we are fully committed to continuing our efforts to get better and operate in a more efficient manner so that we can adapt to this new strange world. This goes for any small independent business that you may do business with, be patient with them too, tell them how great they’re doing and support them with your patience as well as your money because it’s extremely tough out there and some of them may not survive these challenging of times. Small independent family-run businesses like ours are the heartbeat of any community and we all need them so we can come together to spend time with our families, socialise with friends, shop, drink coffee and eat good pizza.

Thank you,

Marc.

We’re in love! Our new pizza ovens have arrived and we can’t wait to try out our new piece of kit.

Did you know, it now takes us only 2 minutes and 56 seconds to cook a pizza in our new ovens. Plus they have separate temperature controls in the top and bottom of each oven to evenly distribute the heat to create the perfect crisp base for your pizza – perfect!

To celebrate the latest addition to our kitchen, we asked our social media followers to guess how quickly our new ovens could cook a pizza for the chance to win a free pizza, and  Ivor Henderson was our lucky winner with the closest guess of 3 minutes.

We’ll be hosting more social media competitions online so keep your eyes peeled, and if all this talk of pizza ovens is making you hungry, don’t forget you can order your Pizzeria Villaggio takeaway for home delivery or collection. You can also get any pizza or pasta dish + dessert for only £11.95 when you choose our collection service.* Take a look at our online menu to view our current selection of dishes.

*Offer for collection only; a £2 supplement applies to gamberoni, frutti di mare, and calzone.