The remains of the city of Pompeii, which were first uncovered in the sixteenth century, have provided a wealth of archaeological insights since excavations first began in 1748. Frozen in time under volcanic ash, it has been considered to be a preserved snapshot of Roman life dating back to AD 79, when Mount Vesuvius erupted.

Despite extensive excavations, however, there are evidently still more fascinating things to be found. Last week, during excavations on what is known as the Regio IX section of the archaeological park, which lies near Naples, a fresco was revealed in what is thought to be the atrium of a house. The fresco depicts a still life including what looks strangely like a pizza. Controversially, the pizza-like food is missing tomato and mozzarella – and instead includes fruit.

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of Pompeii, explained that “the image brings to mind a pizza [especially] since we are near Naples. Obviously it is not a pizza but perhaps it could have been a distant ancestor of this food”. In fact, what we now understand to be pizza was invented in Naples in the 1800s, but the idea of serving a focaccia flatbread with various toppings does date back to antiquity. Gino Sorbillo, owner of a Naples pizzeria, insists that the fresco does show the pizza’s predecessor: “in ancient Pompeii we already knew that there were forms of flatbread, made with grains, water, salt and maybe beer as a leavening agent […] then they might have topped it with vegetables or the fish of the day… it was an ancient form of pizza.”

But what about the controversial accompaniment of fruit? One of the fresco flatbread’s accompaniments does seem to resemble a pineapple, however historians think this unlikely, as pineapple was not encountered by a European until Christopher Columbus’s trip to Guadeloupe in 1493. They suggest that the accompaniments are dried fruit, dates, pomegranate, and a garland of yellow arbutus, as well as a goblet of wine and some moretum – a herb cheese spread commonly eaten by ancient Romans.

The selection of flatbread, fruit, and wine likely relates to the Greek hospitality ritual of xenia. Served on a silver tray, the offering was a ritualistic gift for visitors dating back to the Hellenistic period. Zuchtriegel describes how the fresco seems to reflect the contrast between a “frugal and simple meal” and “the luxury of silver trays and refinement of artistic and literary representations.” He adds, “how can we fail to think, in this regard, of pizza, which was also born as a ‘poor’ dish of southern Italy, which has now conquered the world and is also served in starred restaurants.”

Alongside the focaccia flatbread adorned fresco, other wall paintings excavated include mythical scenes of Apollo and Daphne and Poseidon and Amymone. Human remains were also unearthed in a bakery attached to the atrium, where two woman and a child appear to have sought shelter during the eruption. The remains of two more individuals, men in their 50s, have been found on another part of the site.