Hypothesis of “Dogana” recovery at the Magdalena Bridge

The goal that the authors have set themselves is to create a structure that, together with other buildings already present in the Neapolitan territory, form a "welcome network and hospitality” for the many tourists who, by sea, by air and by land, arrive in Naples. They studied the recovery of the Dogana at Ponte della Maddalena, a historic building in total abandonment. Each of these structures will be aimed at promoting the historical and artistic heritage of the city of Naples as well as the cultural initiatives present in the area. It will thus be possible to pass from the ancient "city walls" to the entrance doors, controlled by soldiers, to the "finance wall" of the nineteenth century with the "Customs" buildings inhabited by financial officers to a modern and telematic "welcome and reception network" which could become the modern gateway to the city of Naples. The historic building of the Customs House, located in the San Giovanni district, will be the modern gateway to the city of Naples, for travelers and tourists coming, by land, from the south of Italy. The choice of the "Dogana" is a consequence of the circumstance that San Giovanni a Teduccio, in addition to being for centuries an urban sector characterized by a consolidated historical building and a strong relationship with the sea, is today also one of the most involved in major development projects: from the construction of the tourist port of Marina di Vigliena, which will host up to 850 berths, to that of the Faculty of Engineering and Law of the University of Naples Federico II. San Giovanni a Teduccio experienced a period of particular splendor during the eighteenth century, when, following the construction of the Royal Villa of Portici, the entire area that leads from the city of Naples to Torre Annunziata was a favorite destination for the Neapolitan aristocracy who there he built a large number of villas of considerable artistic and architectural value, which form the so-called "Golden Mile". San Giovanni a Teduccio has two important elements that if exploited can set in motion a driving force for economic development as well as a strong urban recovery, these are the history and the sea resource. Indeed, the district experienced a period of particular splendor during the eighteenth century, when, following the construction of the Royal Villa of Portici, the entire area that leads from the city of Naples to Torre Annunziata was a favourite destination for the Neapolitan aristocracy who there he built a large number of villas of considerable artistic and architectural value (the Golden Mile). The strong impulse to the building increase that took place along this stretch of coast between 1840 and 1880, was favoured by the construction in 1839 of the Naples - Portici railway, glory of Ferdinand II, which however broke the continuity of the territory with the sea. In those years, the San Giovanni area was the subject of intense urbanization which, on the one hand, made the neighborhood one of the main industrial centres of the city of Naples, on the other, it compromised its delicate urban balance. Along the strip between Vigliena and Pietrarsa, thanks above all to the presence of the railway and following the establishment of the Real Opificio, wanted by Ferdinand I of Bourbon, many new factories were built between the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century, mostly occupying existing productive buildings; all the examples of the Corradini metallurgical industries (founded in 1872 and liquidated in 1949), the renamed Cirio canning industry founded in 1875, the Pietrarsa plant now transformed into the National Railway Museum, the Pattison shipyards are valid. The industrial development of the Neapolitan area, which sees its strong point in San Giovanni a Teduccio, takes on more marked connotations in the early years of the twentieth century following the enactment of the Special Law for Naples in 1904 (L. 351 of 8 July 1904 for the "Economic Risorgimento of the city of Naples") which foresees, in fact, the construction of two industrial areas located one in the eastern area and one in the western area of the city of Naples and connected by a road axis. The construction of the new road layout and a series of workers' districts determines the bond between the city and the neighboring municipalities. In those years, in fact, the idea of a "Great Naples", proposed by Francesco Saverio Nitti, began to make its way into the debate on initiatives for the development of the city. The union was sanctioned a few decades later, in 1925 with Royal Decree no. 2183 of 15 November, which establishes the definitive annexation to the municipal territory of Naples of the districts of Barra, Ponticelli and San Giovanni a Teduccio, and again with the subsequent Royal Decree of 7 February 1926 n. 359, which extends the municipal territory to the districts of Secondigliano, Chiaiano, Pianura and Soccavo. With these two decrees, the eastern outskirts of Naples and at the same time the industrial area, assumed a new geographical dimension partly similar to that predicted by Francesco Saverio Nitti in the elaboration of the "Great Naples". In fact, with the aggregation to the city, a process of urban transformation of the farmhouses began which would have undergone a rapid evolution after World War II.