Update: Sotto's Neapolitan Pizza Oven Ready to Burn

Last week we took a peek into Sotto's Neapolitan pizza oven, which was imported brick by brick from Naples and in the middle of being hand-built by third-generation oven-builder Stefano Ferrara. (It's one of less than 10 hand-built Ferrara ovens in the United States.)

Ferrara finished the oven and flew back home to Italy on Wednesday. The gray cement and brown bricks have been replaced by sunny yellow tiles, though Sotto restaurateurs Steve Samson and Zach Pollack have yet to decide what they want the decorative tile to read. Today, they begin curing the oven, burning a fire in it for 15 hours a day, 10 days in a row.

They'll grout the oven a couple days before their soft-opening, still set for February 25th. Then comes the real test: the pizza.

More oven pictures after the jump.

Into the mouth of madness.

A side view of the oven.

A close-up view of the tile.

Zach and Steve, next to their baby.