Naples, the subway of wonders between art and history

A well whose structure – circular in section – reminiscent of the historic San Patrizio Well, built in Orvieto in the sixteenth century. Mosaics and bas-reliefs. A “crater of light” that almost touches the sky, bringing brightness deep into the earth. These are just some of the architectural wonders of the  Naples subway, Line 1, found in the  Capodichino, Materdei, and Toledo stations. They bear the signature of great architects and arise from the engineering skills of the constructor, the Webuild Group.

The Line 1 of the Naples metro is a strategic infrastructure for the capital of Campania, used on average every day by 135,000 people to reach opposite areas of the city. The Capodichino station, built by Webuild in consortium with Moccia Irme S.p.A., an historic company of the Campania region, on behalf of Metropolitana di Napoli S.p.A. and the Municipality of Naples, is located a few meters from the homonymous Neapolitan airport. It is the last one under construction on the entire route and will allow connecting the airport with the city center in just a few minutes: a direct metropolitan connection from the airport to the port and the railway network, including high-speed rail.

The designers at the English studio RSHP thought of the San Patrizio Well when designing the project of the Capodichino station. And today, as the works are nearing completion, that well comes alive in all the characteristics of the work: the circular section, its 50 meters depth, the spiral stairs positioned on the side walls.

Today, on the construction site, Webuild technicians are working on positioning the hangar-like cover, in blue and orange resembling that of Meccano, with a size of 57 by 50 meters, another peculiarity of this station whose entrance is at street level and not underground. A grand work, and an incredible welcome ticket that the city of Naples offers to all visitors just landed.

In addition to aesthetic beauty and engineering characteristics, the construction works of this station have always focused on  sustainability. During the excavation phase, a specific plan for the use of soils was developed, allowing for the allocation of approximately 200,000 cubic meters of land in former tuff quarries in the heart of the city with the aim of closing them and landscape requalification, thus enabling their full reuse. Moreover, since its design, the Naples metro has been an opportunity not only to provide citizens with a new infrastructure but also a tool to requalify the city, making it more beautiful, livable, and artistic.

Archaeology and art, culture and beauty. Excavating beneath the surface of Naples means traveling into the past, into the history of a city with a thousand faces and many dominations. Along via Roma, neon lights illuminate the shop windows, and historic buildings light up with modernity, but underneath the surface, remains of the past survive as if crystallized by time. The Imperial age of the 3rd century AD, the Byzantine age of the 7th century, and again the Aragonese age of the 15th century. The journey through the underground of this city is a journey into history that the metro perfectly restores.

All the stations involved in these works have been subjected to detailed archaeological investigations. In the Museo station, archaeological excavations were carried out for 4,000 cubic meters; in the Università station for 14,300 cubic meters; at Toledo for 9,600; and in the same Capodichino station, farther from the center, archaeological excavations involved 1,500 cubic meters.

Thus, while on one hand, technical operations have allowed for the discovery and protection of many archaeological artifacts, on the other hand, true underground artistic works have been built and renamed “Art Stations,” 12 in all, five of which are built by the Webuild Group (Università, Toledo, Dante, Museo, Mater Dei).

Each of these stations has its own uniqueness, and mere accolades are not enough to describe them. For example, Toledo, designed by Catalan architect Oscar Tusquets Blanca, which CNN has called the most beautiful in the world, boasts among its wonders a spectacular “crater” (resembling an inverted marine vortex) from which external light reaches the large escalators located 38 meters below. In the Materdei station, designed by Alessandro Mendini, one can admire a mosaic by Sandro Chia, a bas-relief by Luigi Ontani, and works by Sol LeWitt, in addition to the glass spire that overlooks Chia’s mosaic, also designed by Mendini.

And then, the Università station, signed by architect and designer Karim Rashid, explodes with colors to unite tradition and modernity. In the Museo station, built according to Gae Aulenti’s project, the atrium hosts a fiberglass cast – made by the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples – of the Farnese Hercules, while in the secondary entrance hall there is a bronze cast of the monumental Horse’s Head called “Carafa.” Finally, the Dante station, where works by important artists, including Neapolitan and international ones such as Joseph Kosuth, are exhibited. Here, Kosuth has installed ‘These visible things,’ a long neon with a passage from the Convivio written by Dante.