Neapolitan Dome Ovens

The Neapolitan dome is the classic pizza-oven form: a low, wide hemisphere that reflects radiant heat from the roof straight back onto the cooking floor. That geometry is what makes a 60 to 90 second bake possible at all.

Why the proportion matters

Height is the critical dimension. Too tall and the heat has too far to travel back down; too shallow and you cannot get a peel under a pizza at the back. The proportion is set against the floor diameter rather than chosen by eye, and it is the difference between an oven that bakes properly and one that merely gets hot.

Who they suit

Kitchens where pizza is the product rather than one item among many. If the same oven has to run trays, roasts, and bread, a barrel vault is the more practical shape.

Build

Cut high-alumina firebrick bedded in refractory castable over a dry-laid 65 mm hearth, with 50 mm ceramic fibre and 100 mm rockwool over the dome. Our 100 cm build is the most-specified oven we make; sizing runs from your peak hour rather than the dome that looks impressive, which the sizing guide works through.

Comparing two domes

If you are looking at quotes from different builders, the dome is where they diverge invisibly. Ask for the internal height as well as the diameter — the ratio between them is what determines whether radiant heat returns to the floor, and a builder working to a proper profile will have the number to hand.

Ask, too, how the bricks are cut. A dome built from properly angled cuts closes tight, brick against brick, with mortar filling the gap rather than carrying the load. Wide irregular joints packed with castable are a sign the cutting was rushed, and they are where the dome will crack first.

Sizes we build

From 90 cm for domestic use through to 120 cm for high-turnover commercial kitchens, in wood, gas, or convertible configuration. Most working pizzerias land on 100 cm, which holds four twelve-inch pizzas and turns 40 to 50 an hour with one operator.