Il Figlio di Emiliano
€€€€ · 3,263 reviews
Pizza Lovers say: "Praise for the wooden oven pizza, 'Preferita di Mamma,' and pistachio tiramisu. Some found the dough a bit chewy and service poor."
At Il Figlio di Emiliano, seven Margheritas turn tomato into the lesson. Eric Ayala changes the tomato, cheese, oil, and when some ingredients meet the pizza. The names run from Classica to Antica to Caramella. Read together, they mark different points in the Margherita's life rather than seven rounds of decorative toppings.
I have eaten at Il Figlio di Emiliano several times. Ayala changed how I understand Neapolitan pizza: not as a soft base carrying toppings, but as a set of choices about tomato, oil, fermentation, heat, and time. Comparing his Margheritas became a major influence on how I read and write about pizza as Pizzaiolo.
YouTube came before the oven
Ayala was studying business administration when YouTube began feeding him videos about Neapolitan pizza. Davide Civitiello's work pulled him toward dough, and Naples shops including Sorbillo and Da Michele became reference points. He practiced at home until an attempt to push a domestic oven toward pizza temperatures broke it.
The viewer became a creator. Ayala now publishes as @ericayalapizzaiolo on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, with a Twitch channel under the same handle. By April 2024, his combined Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok audience was above 200,000. His sister Íngrid, who worked in audiovisual production, helped develop the communication around the project.
His own channel recorded the transition from screen to service. One TikTok is titled "Primera pizza de Il figlio di Emiliano." An 11-minute YouTube inauguration film followed on October 29, 2023. Pizza taught through video started his route; video then became his way of showing the work.
Emiliano, Naples, and a nine-day course
Ayala grew up in Sant Quirze del Vallès. After his father, Emiliano, died, he acted on advice Emiliano had given him: pursue work that made him happy. He went to Naples for a nine-day Verace Pizza Napoletana course, then stayed in the area for eight months.
Early applications failed because shops said he lacked napoletanità. A family pizzeria near Naples airport gave him his first job, starting with washing dishes before he got time on the peel. The nine-day course gave him a start; eight months of service supplied the daily repetition.
Gino e Toto Sorbillo
€€€€ · 51,881 reviews
Find Gino e Toto Sorbillo on Via dei Tribunali in Naples. Check listed opening hours, see the address and browse pizza photos before your visit.
Gino e Toto Sorbillo sits at Via dei Tribunali 32 in Naples, serves Neapolitan pizza, and was one of Ayala's inspirations before he moved there. Ayala named Sorbillo among the Naples shops he used as reference points while learning the craft.
Al Terrazzo and the Moccia family
Ayala later trained with Roberto and Antonio Moccia at [spot:pizzeria-ristorante-al-terrazzo-dal-1953-cercola], a family pizzeria in the Naples area. Al Terrazzo traces its name to 1953, the Moccias taught Ayala through daily production, and he credits that period as central to what he knows now. One pizza at Il Figlio, the Maestro Roberto, keeps Roberto's role visible on the menu.
Il gioco dell'amore in the family garden
Back in Catalonia, Ayala's mother helped him get a stone oven from Naples. He installed it in his parents' garden and called the project Il gioco dell'amore, the game of love. The first service fed five or six friends. Word passed from those friends to others, and the garden grew to three patio tables plus takeaway on Saturdays.
This was not a polished preview restaurant. Customers crossed the family home to use the bathroom, Saturdays booked months ahead, and the project ran until around July 2022. Young friends worked beside Ayala as the operation grew, a part of the story I can vouch for firsthand.
The garden gave Ayala repeated work with dough, timing, and heat before he signed a lease. It also set the pattern for what came next: family, friends, cameras, and a pizza made in front of people rather than hidden behind a brand deck.
Seven Margheritas in Sabadell
Il Figlio di Emiliano opened in central Sabadell in October 2023. Its name means Emiliano's son. Ayala's sister Íngrid and his partner joined the family operation, and in June 2024, 17 people worked across kitchen, administration, and commercial work. The address is Carrer Mare de Déu de les Neus, 6.
Il Figlio serves one classic Margherita and six variations. Each changes a limited set of parts, especially tomato, cheese, and oil:
| Margherita | Tomato | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Classica | San Marzano dell'Agro Sarnese-Nocerino DOP | House fior di latte and 24-month Parmigiano Reggiano |
| Con bufala | San Marzano dell'Agro Sarnese-Nocerino DOP | House buffalo mozzarella and 24-month Parmigiano Reggiano |
| Maestro Roberto | Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio DOP | House buffalo mozzarella and oil from Vesuvio |
| Del bersagliere | Pacchetelle di San Marzano Kiros | House fior di latte, Pecorino Romano, and Caiazzano oil |
| Antica | Antichi pomodori di Napoli | House buffalo mozzarella added a crudo after the bake |
| Corbarina | Pomodorino di Corbara | House fior di latte, Pecorino Bagnolese, and Cilento oil |
| Caramella | Datterini Caramella | House fior di latte, Cacioricotta del Cilento, and Irpinia oil |
Three names need separating. The version sometimes called Bufalina is Margherita con bufala. Crudo is not a pizza name; it describes how the Antica receives its buffalo mozzarella. Corbarino is the tomato spelling. The pizza is Margherita Corbarina, made with pomodorino di Corbara.
The Caramella is the most popular of the seven, based on my visits and firsthand knowledge. Its Datterini Caramella are round, fruity tomatoes from near Nola. Ayala traveled more than 1,500 kilometers to collect half a metric ton, then paired them with fior di latte, Cacioricotta del Cilento, basil, and Irpinia Colline dell'Ufita DOP oil.
The seven are more than a tomato flight. They let you read the Margherita at different timepoints: the Classica as the reference, older Naples tomatoes in the Antica, preserved Pacchetelle on the Del bersagliere, Piennolo on the Maestro Roberto, Corbara fruit on the Corbarina, and fresh Datterini Caramella on the Caramella. Territory follows the tomato into the oil where possible.
After several visits, this is what stayed with me: repetition reveals difference. Seven pizzas with the same basic name ask you to notice acidity, sweetness, water, texture, preservation, and whether the cheese goes through the oven or lands raw after the bake.
Il Figlio di Emiliano
€€€€ · 3,263 reviews
Pizza Lovers say: "Praise for the wooden oven pizza, 'Preferita di Mamma,' and pistachio tiramisu. Some found the dough a bit chewy and service poor."
Il Figlio opened in 2023, carries Emiliano's name, and serves the seven tomato-led Margheritas at its Sabadell address. The Maestro Roberto connects the menu back to Al Terrazzo, while the Antica, Corbarina, and Caramella move through different tomatoes and handling methods.
Mozzarella made in Sabadell
By November 2025, Ayala had added a dairy workshop in Sabadell under the name Il Grande Desiderio. Pep Argemí runs production. Cow's milk travels about 40 kilometers from a nearby farm, while buffalo milk comes from Huesca. The workshop makes fior di latte and buffalo mozzarella. I can add from firsthand knowledge that its production also includes ricotta.
The process starts with gentle heating and natural rennet. The team cuts the curd, releases whey, rests and laminates the mass, then uses hot water for filatura before salting and shaping. House production now points to milk, temperature, acidity, and a pair of hands in the same city.
Ayala's route can be read in four objects. A YouTube screen sparked the first attempt. A stone oven turned his parents' garden into Il gioco dell'amore. Seven tomatoes carry different Margherita timepoints. Fresh cheese now carries milk from forty kilometers away and Huesca into a Sabadell workshop. Emiliano's advice sits underneath all four.