Unkept promises (1 and 2):
If you go to the Sanità district to see Palazzo dello Spagnolo, the little eighteenth-century gem, you will probably notice that all the doors of the homes have stucco decorations, with reproductions of female figures. All except one. One on which we find a very familiar face to us Neapolitans, and especially to the inhabitants of the Sanità district, which gave birth to this great actor: Prince Antonio de Curtis, known as Totò.
The bust of Totò stands out, but what only a keen eye will notice is the series of obituaries posted on the walls, always dedicated to Totò. But not for his death, rather for his second death, that is, for the museum dedicated to him, denied by the institutions. The promise to establish a museum dedicated to the much-loved actor inside Palazzo dello Spagnuolo, in fact, dates back decades. It was made, but it was never kept.
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The second unkept promise concerns the Toledo metro, the one that has been declared the most beautiful in Europe. Tourists probably don't remember the original project, Neapolitans certainly do, because at the time the metro station was advertised, as they say in Naples, everywhere.
The project for the art metro stations dates back to 1995, the first section opened was "Dante-Vanvitelli." I still remember my first ride on the subway, with my father, it was something completely new!
Over the years, new stops have been opened, all (or most) enriched by works of contemporary artists. But what's the point of putting works of art in the subways? Well, there is a point, and what a point! It's because, in this way, travelers are "forced" into a path of beauty. The passage through the subways was conceived precisely as a "mandatory museum."
Inaugurated in 2012, the Toledo station immediately caught the attention of art critics and journalists, the newspaper "The Daily Telegraph" declared it the most beautiful in Europe. The station, in fact, designed by Óscar Tusquets Blanca, a Catalan artist, boasts works by names such as William Kentridge, Bob Wilson, Oliviero Toscani, Francesco Clemente, and many others. The image I am posting in this post is a work present in the Toledo metro, by photographer Shirin Neshat. It's titled "Theater is life. Life is theater – Don’t ask where the love is gone." Do you know it? Have you seen it? I hope for your sake you have, because otherwise you can't see it. You can't see it, just as you can't see the works of Francesco Clemente, Oliviero Toscani, Lawrence Weiner, and Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, and do you know why? Because the side of the metro station that houses them, with the related Montecalvario metro exit, is closed!
The Montecalvario exit is located in Piazzetta Montecalvario, in the heart of the Spanish Quarters. If you go to the quarters today, the fact that there was another metro exit so close to the one on Via Toledo might even seem useless, because now the quarters have become touristy, thanks to a series of grassroots initiatives, such as associations and restaurant businesses.
At the time of the metro project, however, it was not like that. The quarters were considered dangerous, not only tourists, but even Neapolitans hesitated to enter. You would often see them with their cameras on Via Toledo, intent on filming the glimpses of the alleys from afar. So, building an underground passage that could encourage Neapolitans and tourists to complete the exhibition route of the Toledo metro, and that could accompany them all the way to the Montecalvario exit, in the quarters, was a socially useful, even revolutionary project. Urban planning affects the territory, and it affects the social aspects of the territory.
Unfortunately, right from the start, the promise of "inclusion" of the Spanish Quarters in tourist routes was disregarded due to the lack of staff in the subway. The Montecalvario exit, in fact, was always closed on weekends, precisely due to lack of staff. After the first lockdown due to covid, they decided to close it permanently, and today if you go to Piazzetta Montecalvario, you only see the metro sign, with the entrance barred.
