From the Bourbon era to the present day, through nineteenth-century architecture, vintage convoys, and old and new technologies.
Latest-generation trains speed up and down the entire length Italy. High-speed trains can reach 300 km per hour, where the tracks allow it. They routinely employ remote diagnostics, cameras and monitors, real-time passenger counting systems, and offer ergonomic seats and Wi-Fi. Technology has made significant strides in the field of rail transport, accompanied by a growing focus on sustainability. Minimal vibrations and noise are achieved through low aerodynamic resistance, electric motors, and LED lights designed to reduce energy consumption, with production materials that are largely recyclable. The latest developments include hydrogen-powered trains that are set to replace those running on fossil fuels.
Yet in Italy, it is still possible to travel on historic trains, along railways steeped in history, with steam engines puffing and suspensions creaking, wooden seats and ashtrays. From the central station in Naples, the Pietrarsa Express vintage convoy runs along the first railway ever built in the peninsula, the Naples-Portici line (inaugurated in 1839), reaching the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa, which chronicles the centuries-old and fascinating technology of trains and railways from their beginnings.
National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa
In 1840, to break free from English and French technical dominance, Ferdinand II of Bourbon founded the Royal Mechanical, Pyrotechnic, and Locomotive Factory. The workshops were located in Pietrarsa, on the first Italian railway section, the Naples-Portici line. This achievement made Pietrarsa Italy’s first industrial hub, long before Breda and Fiat. In the 1970s, with the advent of electric and diesel locomotives, the decline of steam engines and, consequently, the factory itself, became inevitable. In 1977, the workshops were designated to become a railway museum, which was inaugurated in 1989.
For visitors, the journey through time begins outside the museum with the statue of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon, the ancient shelter from the Fiorenzuola d’Arda station dating back to the early 1900s, the Mediterranean Garden with plants from all over the world, the Vesuvius carriage, a faithful reproduction of a 1920s restaurant car, and a new glass parapet for the terrace on the seafront, offering a unique view of the Gulf of Naples. Inside, the expertly restored nineteenth-century pavilions host models, mock-ups, locomotives, and trains that have connected Italy from 1839 to the present day, illustrating 180 years of Italian railway history. A big leap forward in time takes visitors into the functional congress hall and the cinema hall equipped with the latest audio and video technology, and through new interactive visiting methods, including virtual reality systems and dedicated apps.
Portici and its Royal Palace
A short distance from Pietrarsa, Portici is surrounded by immense nature, between the cobalt sea and the land of the Vesuvius, that dormant yet active giant which erupted in 1631, destroying the entire city. It was rebuilt during the reign of Charles III of Bourbon, who chose it as the location for his summer residence and had his palace constructed there. Engineers, architects, and decorators of great renown contributed to the works, including Giovanni Antonio Medrano, Antonio Canevari, and Luigi Vanvitelli. In 1737, the archaeological site of Herculaneum had just begun to reveal its wonders, and the finds unearthed from each excavation were displayed in the rooms of the Palace, giving rise to the Herculanense Museum, inaugurated in 1758 and a key stop on the Grand Tour. In the early nineteenth century, the archaeological collections were moved to Naples, where they now form the core of the National Archaeological Museum. The imposing facade with balustraded terraces leads into elegant rooms that have housed the Faculty of Agriculture of the Federico II University since 1935. The grand double staircase, frescoed in 1750 by Vincenzo Re, leads to magnificent halls and rooms displaying the mineralogical, entomological, anatomical, and mechanical collections of the time, now gathered under a single academic structure: the Musa Centre. Surrounding the building are two large parks (the upper forest and lower forest) filled with Mediterranean plants, crops, and nurseries of various species, as well as compositional elements and attractions, including the Botanical Garden, with its evocative fern garden.
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