The first recorded use of the word pizza is in a notarial document from Gaeta, in Latin, dated 997 AD, which demands a payment of twelve pizzas, a pork shoulder and a kidney on Christmas Day. Flatbreads with toppings are much older, from Persian soldiers baking cheese and dates on their shields to Greek bread with oil and herbs. Modern pizza developed in Naples in the 18th or early 19th century, and tomatoes arrived only after the 16th-century Columbian Exchange. The Margherita legend of 1889 is now doubted, as no press reports of the visit exist and the name was promoted in the 1930s and 1940s.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.