Bambina Pizzeria

Alessandro Buttazzoni is a name possibly familiar to those from Hawke’s Bay, given that he is the widely experienced creator of the beloved Alessandro’s Pizza e Pasta Napoletana in Havelock North. In 2021, Buttazzoni decided it was time for a change, so he sold Alessandro’s and took a break before returning to his biggest love: making authentic Italian pizza. 

Buttazzoni’s latest venture, Bambina Pizzeria, dishes up not just the well-known Pizza Napoletana (round pizzas perfect for sharing) but also Pizza Romana—that is, rectangular pizza by the slice. In fact, Bambina is the only pizzeria in the country serving Pizza Romana at the scale it does. 

These rectangular pizzas are displayed in a large glass cabinet and topped with plenty of high-quality, seasonal ingredients, chosen in combinations to compliment the dough best. There are over ten rotating flavours daily, and with options like pork and fennel sausage and salami with chilli-infused honey or toasted walnut and creamy gorgonzola with white truffle honey, you’ll be hard-pressed to choose just one. 

The dough for this pizza is also a work of art. It’s made from specialised flours sourced from Naples and combined with water, Sicilian sea salt and Alessandro’s very own sourdough starter. Good things take time, and in true Italian fashion, the dough ferments for no less than 72 hours before it is baked in ovens imported all the way from–you guessed it!–Italy. The result? A dough that is both thick and light, with a crispy crust and rich in natural fibre. 

Pizza is an art form that has been perfected over centuries, and at Bambina’s, the mission is to honour this. Mission accomplished, you might say.