The Metro of Art in Naples

Naples is the only city in the world that has an open-air museum distributed across its subway stations. The result is the so-called Metro of Art, a project aimed at making public transportation areas more welcoming and pleasant, allowing everyone to appreciate the beauty of some of the finest contemporary art pieces.

Even in a city like Naples, extraordinarily rich in must-see places, the Metro has quickly established itself as one of the things to absolutely see in the city. A museum that does not confine itself to elitist spaces but is accessible to everyone.

The most beautiful stations are those on Line 1, which runs from Piscinola to Piazza Garibaldi: along this route, you'll encounter Vanvitelli, Materdei, Quattro Giornate, Salvator Rosa, Cavour, Dante, Toledo, Municipio, and Università, repeatedly awarded as the most beautiful stations in Europe.

This station was opened in 1993 and renovated between 2004 and 2005, hosting masterpieces from eight contemporary art masters. The interiors are made very bright through careful and curated use of colors, from blue to yellow, from lilac to various shades of gray. In the spectacular atrium, there is a fun installation by Giulio Paolini, featuring a large boulder that seems to shatter the transparent enclosure in which it is trapped.

The two side corridors host on one side the long strip by Paolini that synthesizes images belonging to different eras and styles, and on the other side, photographs of the city's architecture.

This station, named after the days of the uprising that liberated Naples from Nazi rule, was built 44 meters underground and features bronze reliefs and paintings by Nino Longobardi that refer to the Neapolitan Resistance.

Along the escalators leading to the platforms, there are various works of art: hunting scenes and the "warriors", along with a crumpled aluminum sheet sculpture.

The ascent towards the exit features three large showcases fixed to the wall with iron beams, a massive photographic image of Betty Bee trapped in a box, a painting by Maurizio Cannavacciuolo titled Amore contro natura, and finally, the Combattenti, a work dedicated to the resistance during the Four Days of Naples.

The opening of the Materdei subway station, designed by Atelier Mendini, has enhanced and revitalized not only Piazza Scipione Ammirato, transformed into a pedestrian zone adorned with green spaces, artworks, and new urban furniture, but the entire neighborhood.

The entrance of the station is very striking: completely covered in mosaics and dominated by a large green and yellow star. The steel and colored glass spire that stands out on the structure characterizes the square and brings brightness to the atrium of the station, where shades of green and blue alternate.

On the staircase leading to the lower floors, there is a mosaic with ceramic reliefs: a wide marine space where fantastic characters disperse, a Pulcinella with the face of the artist and Neapolitan street kids.

This station is also the result of a project by Atelier Mendini. In this structure, the collaboration between architects and artists has created a beautiful harmony between the artworks present inside the station and in the vast terraced garden, and the architectural spaces.

Mendini's intent was to provide citizens with a functional and aesthetically pleasing space that would serve as a stage for their daily lives.

The area where this station majestically stands has been completely revitalized: the remains of a Roman bridge have been restored, the surrounding buildings transformed into works of art thanks to prominent artists like Ernesto Tatafiore, and a charming neoclassical chapel located nearby has gained new value.

The park has several levels connected by a long external escalator leading to the playground area. Also present is the surprising "hand" by Mimmo Paladino. The station building is quite unique: the steel spire seems to echo fairy-tale motifs, and the escalator tunnels seem to project into another dimension, disorienting the eyes with their curious perspectives.

The station also has a second exit at the foot of Via Salvator Rosa, featuring the sculpture of Pulcinella by Lello Esposito, who with his usual insolent curiosity watches from above the flow of city life.

Behind it is the building where the author of the famous song "O'sole mio" lived, adorned with a series of colorful signs and an engaging rain of golden rays, again by Mimmo Paladino.

This station was built according to Gae Aulenti's design. The appearance and color of this station, with its red plaster and Vesuvius stone that connects the various street levels, evoke in materials and shades the structure of the nearby National Archaeological Museum. The station atrium features a fiberglass cast of Hercules Farnese, obtained from the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples, while the secondary entrance hall holds a bronze cast of the imposing Horse Head known as Carafa. Moving along the corridors towards the Museum, you can admire black-and-white photographs by Mimmo Jodice.

In the upper entrance is the bronze reproduction of Laocoön and behind it, Jodice's photographs that highlight some details. The corridor leading to the Museum accommodates "Station Neapolis" which showcases the archaeological remains found during excavation work for the construction of Line 1.

The interior of the station is covered with large white glass panels with steel studs and features masterpieces from some protagonists of contemporary Italian art. In the atrium of the station, there are two canvases by Carlo Alfano, Luce-Grigio and Fragments of an anonymous self-portrait.

Above the stairs leading to the lower floor is Queste cose visibili by Joseph Kosuth, a work composed of a passage from Dante's Convivio, where the words are perfectly rendered with white neon tubing.

The wall of the lower level is entirely taken up by Senza titolo by Jannis Kounellis: a spacious steel paneling on which beams resembling rails hold and block various pairs of men's and women's shoes, an overcoat, a hat, and toy train locomotives.

Continuing down to the platforms, above the escalators, there are two variants of Intermediterraneo by Michelangelo Pistoletto, a mirrored work outlining the profile of the Mediterranean basin. Finally, there is the long mosaic of the Universe without bombs, kingdom of flowers, 7 red angels, by Nicola De Maria, which is a riot of colors, small geometric shapes, and seven vivid ovoids, large and bold.

One of the latest inaugurated and perhaps the most beautiful, so much so that it won the award for the most beautiful station in Europe. The Crater of Light is a large cone that penetrates all levels of the station, the above Piazzetta Berlinguer with the spectacular hall located 40 meters deeper than sea level.

The station is illuminated by the work "Relative Light" by Robert Wilson: thousands of LEDs programmed across a spectrum of blues create suggestive and variable light harmonies. The walls are adorned with Kentridge's mosaics depicting a procession of figures and objects inspired by the history of the city of Naples, guided by San Gennaro, the patron saint of the city.

A "soft and colorful" station located in the area where Naples universities are concentrated. The Anglo-Egyptian architect and designer Karim Rashid has created spaces that convey knowledge and the languages of the new digital era without forgetting the great Italian and Neapolitan humanistic tradition.

Thus, we find a multitude of words (virtual, network, portable, database, interface, software, but also a large drawing with Dante and Beatrice, celebrating the encounter between past and future.

Beyond the turnstiles, there is the work Conversational Profile, two pieces that always show profiles of faces from each side, a metaphor for dialogue and communication between human beings.

The largest and most important of the Neapolitan stations (where all national and local trains arrive) bears the signature of French architect and urban planner Dominique Perrault, who also redefined the above Piazza Garibaldi (still under construction).

The station is a single, bright, and deep environment traversed only by the incredible "suspended" escalators covered only by transparent glass, allowing sunlight to reach 40 meters deep. The station hosts two large works by Michelangelo Pistoletto, one of the protagonists of the international art scene.