It seems that Capsicum was highly welcomed as spice in Europe to substitute for black pepper. From Greek and Roman times on, aromatic spices and frankincense came from the Orient to Europe via secret trade connections. These links between the Lands of Spices and Europe were for centuries the monopoly of Arabs and Venetian merchants, resulting in an exorbitant price for pepper. So costly was pepper that only very rich traders could expect to trade in it. I usually eat pepperoni pizza which contains lot of chilies.
Chili is known by a number of names around the world.
Pepperoni is actually the name of a fairly hot variety of capsicum which is eaten in Italy. In Europe, Capsicum found its main domicile in Hungary. The Hungarian name paprika stems from the Slavic name peperke used in Balkan countries for pepper. The Hungarian diminutive form for Ilona is Ilonka , and Mary is Marika . The common experience during such a fairly hot meal is sweating beginning in the face.