Italian Naples pizza-making joins UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list

ROME, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The art of pizza-making in Naples has made it onto the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Italy's minister of culture has announced.

The 12th session of the UN World Heritage Committee meeting on the South Korean island of Jeju approved the inscription of what it called "the art of the Neapolitan 'Pizzaiuolo' (pizza maker)".

The Committee described it as "a culinary practice comprising four different phases relating to the preparation of the dough and its baking in a wood-fired oven, involving a rotatory movement by the baker".

"The art of Neapolitan pizza makers is Intangible Heritage of Humanity," Minister Dario Franceschini tweeted. "A recognition for Naples and Italy as a whole," he added.

"The element originates in Naples, the capital of the Campania Region, where about 3,000 Pizzaiuoli now live and perform," wrote the 24-member UNESCO Committee during its annual meeting, which this year runs Dec. 4-9.

"Pizzaiuoli are a living link for the communities concerned...The element fosters social gatherings and intergenerational exchange, and assumes a character of the spectacular, with the Pizzaiuolo at the center of their 'bottega' sharing their art."

This year the committee is also examining nominations from another 34 countries from various continents.

For example, Algeria nominated the art of Teqtar, described as "the knowledge and know-how related to the distillation of rose water and bitter orange water by the city-dwellers of Constantine".

Iran nominated Chogan, a horse-riding game accompanied by music and storytelling, while Bangladesh submitted its traditional art of Shital Pati weaving of Sylhet.

In 2016, China was inscribed on the list with an art named "the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, knowledge ... of time and practices developed through observation of the sun's annual motion". Enditem