Presentation of our city and country

1. Presentation of our City and Country
Painting of the Royal Palace of Portici
Watch me, hear me, touch me, feel me: Iam right next to you

2. PORTICI
Portici lies at the foot of Mount Vesuvius on the Bay of Naples, about 8
km (5.0 mi) southeast of Naples itself. There is a small port. To the south
east is Ercolano, formerly Resina, which occupies the site of ancient
Herculaneum. San Giorgio a Cremano is another town nearby.
The city was completely destroyed by the Eruption of Vesuvius in 1631,
but was rebuilt. Charles III of Spain, King of Naples and Sicily, built a
royal palace in the town between 1738-1748. After Garibaldi defeated the
Bourbons in 1860, the palace was turned into the Portici botanic gardens
and the Royal Higher School of Agriculture. It once contained the
antiquities from Herculaneum, which have been moved to Naples
afterwards. The inhabitants were historically engaged in fishing, silk-
growing and silk-weaving up to the beginning of the 20th century. Later a
more diversified economy emerged, with industry and trade as main
pillars. Vincenzo Cuomo is currently the mayor.

3. National Railway
Museum of Pietrarsa
in Portici
This is where the history of the Italian railway began. On 3rd October 1839, in
the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Italy’s first railway track was inaugurated.
It’s route went from Naples to Portici, the same that runs by the museum
today. A year later, a Royal Decree was issued for the purchase of the initial
parcel of land on which the Pietrarsa complex would go on to be built.
Ferdinand II had an ambitious goal in mind: to free his kingdom from the
technological supremacy of England and France. The very first locomotive
made in Italy that was delivered to the Royal Railroads bore the factory’s
name: Pietrarsa. The structure of the workshops was completed in 1853. This
was the first industrial complex in Italy, preceding the founding of Breda and
Fiat by 44 and 57 years respectively. Around 20 soldiers, 619 labourers and 40
prisoners worked there.
On 31st March 2017, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella,
inaugurated the completed architectural restoration of the entire National
Railway Museum of Pietrarsa complex.

4. Royal Palace
in Portici
Portici Royal Palace is an historic residence built by King
Carlo di Borbone, as the Royal Palace for his dynasty before
the construction of the most impressive Reggia di Caserta!
The story goes that the King and his wife Maria Amalia of
Saxony, who were staying at Villa of the Duke of Elboeuf, were
so impressed by the beauty of the place, that they decided to
build a palace that could accommodate them as an official
residence.
The works began in 1738 with an architectural project by
Antonio Canevari and other famous architects of the time. Very
important artists worked for the Royal Palace like the painter
Giuseppe Bonito, who decorated the halls, and the sculptor
Joseph Canart, who staged the sculptures in front of the Park
using Carrara Marble.
Today, the complex houses the headquarters of the Faculty of
Agriculture (University of Naples “Federico II”) and some
Museums.

5. Villa D’Eboeuf
in Portici
Villa d'Elboeuf lays on the coast adjacent to the
Granatello dock (photo, below, right) in Portici and was
commissioned in 1711 by the duke d'Elboeuf
(Emmanuel Maurice, Duke of Elbeuf (1677-1763), a
French nobleman, who served under the Holy Roman
Emperor, Joseph I, in Naples as lieutenant general of
the cavalry during the Wars of the Spanish Succession).
The architect was the idiosyncratic and delightful
neapolitan, Ferdinando Sanfelice, whose best-known
work in the city of Naples is no doubt the “Palazzo
dello Spagnuolo”. The two story building was designed
with a loge facing Mt. Vesuvius and two terraces on the
sea, one facing Torre del Greco and the other Naples.
The design included Sanfelice's trademark double
elliptical staircase with marble banisters.

6. The inauguration of the new Research
Centre - Observatory of the Gulf of Naples
in Portici, section of the “Anton Dohrn”
Zoological Station, took place on Friday 20th
January 2017. It is a centre of excellence for
research and scientific dissemination, with
top-level scientists and the most advanced
technologies, inaugurated in front of a large
audience in the premises of the former
municipal slaughterhouse, near the port of
Granatello. The Centre hosts a surgery and a
radiology room for marine reptiles and a
didactic exhibition, with the aim to rescue sea
turtles and monitor their migration habits and
behaviour in nature.
The Sea Turtle Research
Centre “Anton Dohrn”
Zoological Station
in Portici

7. St. Ciro’s Church (town's patron)
The pictures show a view of St. Ciro’s Church in
Portici, in the town’s central square, which
connects “Via Libertà” and “Corso Garibaldi”.
The church was built in 1633 but opened to the
public only in 1642. Domenico Vaccaro designed
the two bell towers and the dome, which was added
in the 1700.

8. MAV
in Ercolano
The MAV (archaeological virtual museum) is located a few
steps away from the archaeological excavations of ancient
Herculaneum. It is a center of culture and technology
applied to cultural heritage and communication among the
most advanced in Italy. Inside is an unique and
extraordinary museum: a virtual and interactive journey
back to the days before the Plinian eruption in 79 AD,
which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum. Through
virtual reconstructions, visual interfaces and holograms, the
visitors can enjoy the archaeological patrimony and learn
interesting history facts.

9. The Excavations of Herculaneum
While Pompeii is more famous, the city of Herculaneum was
also destroyed in the same eruption, but buried under
Vesuvius's spew of ash in successive waves that coated and
preserved the city and its contents. The ash and pyroclastic
material came in a series of eruptions, which coupled with
heat, acted as a preserver of the city, in essence "mummifying"
everything, including furnishings, household items and many
details that were destroyed by the hot fluid lava at Pompeii.
Ercolano, as it is called in Italian, is actually better preserved
and more interesting than Pompeii in many ways.
According to legend, Herculaneum was founded by Hercules,
originally a Greek city dedicated to that god and called
Herakles.

10. Piazza del
Plebiscito in
Naples
For continental grandeur, it's hard to beat Piazza del Plebiscito.
Whichever you look, the view is show-stopping. To the northwest,
vine-covered slopes lead up to Castel Sant’Elmo and the Certosa of
San Martino; to the east, the pink-hued Palazzo Reale shows off its
oldest facade. And to the west stands Pietro Banchini's neoclassical
facsimile of Rome's Pantheon, the Basilica of San Francesco from
Paola. A later addition to the columned colonnade of Joachim Murat's
original 1809 piazza design, the church was commissioned by
Ferdinand I in 1817 to celebrate the restoration of his kingdom after the
Napoleonic interlude. Standing guard outside are Antonio Canova's
statue of a galloping King Charles VII of the Bourbons dinasty and
Antonio Calí's rendering of Charles' son Ferdinand I.

11. Castel Nuovo,
in Napoli
Castel Nuovo (italian for “new castle"), often called Maschio
Angioino, is a medieval castle located in front of City Hall
(Palazzo San Giacomo) in the heart of the city. The building
began in 1279 under the reign of Charles I of Anjou, on the
basis of a plan by the French architect Pierre de Chaule. The
strategic position of the castle gave it characteristics of a
royal residence, and of a fortress too.
During the reign of Robert of Anjou the castle became a
centre of culture giving hospitality to artists, doctors and
literates . Among them were Giotto, Petrarca and Boccaccio.
During the Aragonese reign the castle was turned into the
fortress it now appears to be.
It is today the venue of cultural events and houses the
Municipal Museum among other things.

12. Castel dell’Ovo
in Napoli
Castel dell’Ovo (italian for “Castel of the Egg”) is located
on the island of Megaride, where, according to legend, the
dead body of the mermaid Parthenope rests. It was here that
the Cumans landed in the 6th century BC to found the first
nucleus of the future city.
But why does it have such a curious name?
The castle takes its name from a legend. According to it, the
poet Virgil, in order to protect Naples and its people from
calamities, hid a magical egg, well kept in a cage, inside the
castle.