Borgo Marinaro
Borgo
Marinaro is a small port and adjacent buildings (now
mostly restaurants and yachting clubs) built into the
eastern niche formed by the Castel
dell’Ovo and the causeway that joins the castle
to the mainland; it is protected by a breakwater.
Essentially, it is what is left of the historic
seafront of Santa Lucia.
Borgo Marinaro came into existence at the end of the
19th century when large sections of the old
seafront were torn down to make way for the new
buildings of the risanamento,
the 30-year urban renewal of entire sections of
Naples. Originally, as the name implies (“Sailors’
Quarter”) the new area was meant to house the
fisherfolk displaced by the project. As it turned out,
the project dragged on for so many years that most of
the local population simply got tired of waiting and
moved a few blocks inland into streets that run behind
via Santa Lucia and up the Pizzofalcone hill. (Via Santa Lucia was
originally the seaside road but became an inside
street, forever separated from the sea by an entire
string of new hotels built on landfill and,
themselves, overlooking the new seaside roads of via
Partenope and via N. Sauro.) As a result, Borgo
Marinaro was taken over by facilities of the more
affluent, although there are still some fishermen who
operate out of the port.
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