'Naples, The Future is Here' is the title of an interesting email we received from Urban Italy. It concerns the a project called 'La Porta del Parco' which is part of the biggest urban renewal project in Europe.
From the press release we leanr that the project concerns a 2,000,000 square metre area more or less corresponding to the Bagnoli quarter in the western part of Naples, a magnificent part of the Bay with views sweeping from Vesuvius to Capri, from the islet of Nisida to the Posillipo. A place of stunning natural beauty, but for the heavy industry which developed here from the mid 19th century on.
Now the steelworks is no more, the land has been reclaimed, and the ambitious regeneration plan known as Bagnolifutura is under way. Faltering, but under way.
The core is an enormous urban park stretching down to the sea with a vocation for tourism, leisure and culture. There'll be old industrial buildings converted to new functions, museums, sports and leisure facilities including a marina, housing, shops, services and hotels. The multipurpose complex La Porta del Parco, as its name suggests, is intended as a link between the city and the new urban park.
Designed by Silvio d'Ascia, Naples-born architect of international fame, it is a large public space on several levels with two main volumes in steel and glass, one the domed entrance to a 6,000 square metre spa area (not yet up and running), the other an auditorium seating 300. The whole has a space-station look about it, with the auditorium resembling a large, alien body rearing up from the depths of its piazza. The rest is, well, piazza, office space, open areas for exhibitions, and lots of parking underneath.
Delicious Italy will keep tabs on the project and see how things are progressing.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
La Porta del Parco
Via Nuova Bagnoli, 80124 Napoli
www.bagnolifutura.it
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