Tourist left shocked as restaurant charges £87 for ONE pizza in popular holiday hotspot

A tourist was left dumbfounded after spotting the eye-watering price of a controversial dish at a pizzeria in Malta.

Valentina Trujillo Olivares, from Chile, noticed the exorbitant charge after stopping by Sotto Prosciutteria for a bite to eat during a recent trip to Gżira.

The 27-year-old designer and student documented her experience in a video shared to social media on 10 July, in which she filmed herself browsing the restaurant's menu.

The clip showed the cheapest pizza – the Margherita – was listed at a reasonable €9.45 (£8), while the Semplice and Tirolese each cost €14.70 (£13).

But the price of a Hawaiian - which contains ham and pineapple - left the holidaymaker stunned after she noticed it was listed at a whopping €100 (£87).

She said in the footage: 'I'm at an Italian restaurant and look how much the Hawaiian pizza costs – 100 euros!'

Later speaking to What's The Jam, she elaborated: 'The first thing that caught my attention was that it would cost 100 euros, and that they put it on the menu, despite being a restaurant that specialises in Roman pizza.'

The long-standing debate of ham and pineapple belonging on pizza has persisted for decades, with many 'pizza purists', particularly those with strong ties to Italian culinary traditions, viewing pineapple as an inappropriate topping for pizza.

While some find the sweetness of pineapple to be a pleasant contrast to the saltiness of ham and cheese, others find the combination unappealing.

Valentina explained that she'd curiously asked a waitress if the option was actually available, but claimed she refrained from ordering it because of 'the face' the staff member pulled, and instead ordered the recommended house speciality, the Calzone.

She added: 'I was surprised that the video reached so many people – in fact, many Latinos, especially Mexicans, where pizza with pineapple is apparently very common, as well as many Italians defending traditional Italian pizza.

'But it's a debate that will continue for a long time.'

Since uploading the video to her TikTok page, @valetrujillooo, the footage has amassed a whopping 2.8M views and over 2,000 comments.

One person wrote: 'Snobbery. Pizza was historically a slab of dough onto which you threw some leftovers, and put it in the oven for seven minutes.

'If you have pineapple leftovers and like the taste, what the hell is wrong with that?'

A second joked: “I don’t eat Hawaiian pizza because I like it, I eat it to watch Italians suffer.'

A third added: 'It's actually €10 for the pizza and a €90 charge for the disrespect.'

However, one person defended: 'Hawaiian pizza is literally perfect during a hot summer day; the haters are just missing out.'

At the time of publication, Sotto Prosciutteria appeared to have removed the Hawaiian pizza from its online menu.

It's unclear whether the option is still available on its physical menu. MailOnline Travel has reached out for further comment.