“Generazione Verace” has been officially unveiled: the new photography project by Emanuele Di Cesare is a long and passionate visual journey exploring the soul of Neapolitan pizza through its key players.
Over 200 pizza makers from the AVPN (True Neapolitan Pizza Association) were captured by the photographer’s lens across Italy, the United States, and Japan—three locations symbolizing the global spread of the “verace” tradition.
The iconic element shared by all the shots is the Pulcinella maska timeless symbol of Naples and a central figure in the AVPN logo. Whether worn or evoked in the portraits, Pulcinella becomes the project’s common thread: a mark of identity that unites different cultures, latitudes, and generations under the banner of the same tradition.
The project comes to life with the launch of the official website, www.generazioneverace.it, which hosts a fully-fledged virtual museum. Accessible to all, the site transforms the photographs into memory, narrative, and shared identity. Faces, hands, gazes, and postures tell diverse stories, all held together by a single theme: respect for tradition and its evolution worldwide.
The website launch took place at the AVPN headquarters in Capodimonte. During the event, the Neapolitan pizza makers involved in the project received their personal portraits, signed by Emanuele Di Cesare—a symbolic gesture sealing the human and collective value of the initiative.
“Generazione Verace” is designed as an open and ever-evolving projectset to be enriched over time with new portraits and new stories. A major milestone in this journey will be the creation of a physical exhibitionscheduled to take place in Naples during the Vera Pizza Champion 2026 finals, when the images will move beyond the digital realm to meet the public in person.
This project goes beyond photography to become a cultural testament—capturing for posterity the faces of a generation that, dough after dough, continues to safeguard and spread the heritage of true Neapolitan pizza across the globe.
www.generazioneverace.it
