|
(Sorry. I can't
help myself.)
Current (2005)
restoration
The
opening
of the station was front-page news in Naples at the
time. It was one of many stations and other public
buildings opened during the same few weeks
throughout Italy, carefully timed for the
nation-wide fifth anniversary celebration of the
"Fascist Revolution" (that is, Mussolini's March on
Rome of October 28, 1922). The new Naples-Rome
rail-link was given thousand of words of
journalistic hyperbole: it was the logical modern
extension of the ancient Roman dedication to road
building—a modern road of steel
now flanks the ancient Appian Way. That sort of
thing. The fact of the new rail line got more
attention than the station itself; yet, there was a
paragraph of praise for the architect, G.B. Milani,
who had managed to build "a fluid facade...big but
not heavy."
The architectural
term used to describe Milani's creation was: "...barochetto
romano". That is, the station is,
indeed, Baroquely ornate. ("Barochetto" refers
to a transitional period to Rococo (around
1720). Indeed, bits of the facade would fit
right in with some Neapolitan architecture from
that period.The station was
not meant to look 200 years old, however; it was
built to fit in with other buildings in the
area, many of which were quite
fashionable
and from
1890-1910, built roughly in the style known in
Italian as "Liberty" (known in English by the
French term "Art Nouveau".) That style, itself,
is self-consciously ornate, highly decorative
and features—among other curls, swirls and
undulations—writhing plant forms, which you find
on the station of Mergellina. Characteristic,
too, of "Liberty" buildings in Naples is the
presence of classical statuary, which you also
find. (Those statues give you the "Roman" in "barochetto
romano"). Thus, the station, cleverly,
looked old and modern at the same time. (I am thankful
that the station did not fall victim—as did many
similar buildings from the 1920s—to the Fascist
wrecking balls of the 1930s, when the regime
decided to go into giant, smooth
marble-slab architecture. (The main post
office in Naples is larger than Holland.)
The
original
facade at Mergellina had just to the right of the
main entrance a six-foot-high plaque marking
Mussolini's opening of the station on the fifth
anniversary of Fascism. That plaque was either
removed or destroyed during the events of WW2. It
will be interesting see if they restore it. After
all, the original Fascist-era inscription on the
main post-office was restored recently. It, however,
is well above the reach of vandals with spray cans.
We shall see. ------------------------------------ (Related item:: Lamont Young, the items under
"Metropolitana" in the subject
index and The
Architecture of Fascism in Naples.) |
What
even many Neapolitans call, simply, the "Metro
station" at Mergellina is in reality the "other"
station (besides the main station at Piazza
Garibaldi) in Naples for long distance rail travel.
When Mergellina station was opened on October 28,
1927, it completed the Naples-Rome link running west
out of the city, then up the coast towards the
capital.
Anyone
with a knowledge of the various waves of
architecture that have surged through the city of
Naples over the centuries can look around and say,
"That's Angevin; that's Bourbon, that's Spanish;
that's monolithic Fascist Art Deco from the
1930's..." When you come to 1900 in Naples,
however, things get a little confused. If you say,
"Oh, that building is Risanamento," you
are naming the mammoth urban renewal project that
rebuilt Naples between 1880 and 1915; that is, you
are naming a period of time, not an architectural
style. The same goes for "Umbertino"—applied
to
architecture and almost anything else— including
hair style (!)—popular during the age of King
Humbert I of Italy (monarch from 1878-1900). That
term applies throughout Italy and, again, refers
to a period of time and not a specific style of
architecture.