Fruity tomato sauce, a crispy crust, and mozzarella that stretches into long strands—nothing beats a handmade, oven-fresh pizza. Today, you can find this delicacy in all its variations on every corner of the city, and even as a vegan, you don’t have to miss out on it. But things were quite different a few decades ago. Until the mid-1960s, if you were a Munich resident and wanted to enjoy pizza, you had to travel to Italy. But then “Bei Mario” opened its doors and brought another slice of Italian cuisine to the Bavarian capital. A success story that continues to this day.
Munich’s First Pizza
Mario Gargiulo grew up south of Naples with his six siblings. One day, he fell in love with a woman from Ravensburg and left his homeland for her sake. As a trained chef, he intended to help her father at his restaurant in Memmingen, but things turned out differently. He ended up in Munich in 1959, where he was spontaneously hired as head chef and eventually opened his own restaurant in 1966: “Bei Mario.” There were already Italian restaurants in the city, but none of them served pizza.
That changed with the founding of Mario’s restaurant on Hiltenspergerstraße. His relationship with the woman from Ravensburg had since ended, yet he remained in Germany and blessed the city with its first pizza. And it was a success: in 1971, he opened a second location on Luisenstraße, and a third on Adalbertstraße that same year. The latter location is home to the only remaining “Bei Mario” that is still in business today. Mario stood at the pizza oven until his death at the age of 81; today, his daughter Marie-Lisa runs the restaurant.
Classic ambiance at “Bei Mario”
Unlike other Italian restaurants in the university district, “Bei Mario” isn’t a minimalist or modern, high-gloss restaurant that looks particularly “Instagram-worthy.” Instead, you’ll find yourself in adown-to-earth family-run establishment with rustic décor that transports you back to classic 20th-century Italy. The ambiance focuses above all on coziness and a homey atmosphere.
Culinary-wise, pizza is of course the star, but pasta dishes and risotto are also on the menu. For those with a sweet tooth, there’s a wide selection of desserts, and you can feast on panna cotta, gelato, tiramisu, and tartufo. If you want to save money, stop by during lunch break, when pizza starts at just €8.
