Naples, the great success for the relaunch of Port'Alba

A magical evening last night at Port'Alba where you could breathe culture and the desire to revive one of the most representative places of Naples that wants to show its most beautiful and iconic places.

Over a thousand people participated in the initiative of the White Night of Books. Many ordinary citizens but also personalities from politics, culture, music. Maurizio De Giovanni, spoke of "an enchanted crowd like at San Gregorio Armeno at Christmas".

"It is a piece of our history, where great publishers have worked, even bringing Nobel Prize winners here. But unfortunately the dimension has always remained short-lived and this is one of the problems we pay for. Naples has immense creativity and a very low level of cultural industry". Maurizio De Giovanni added.

And then he added: “Naples has the most important and translated writers in Italy and abroad but it does not have its own publishing house of national scope. And the same goes for great musicians, the most important dance school in Italy, great directors without a production house. Creativity is strong but the cultural industry is lacking. When the industry takes note of the existence of creativity we will finally create a system that will improve Naples”.

For the writer, we must start with the urban regeneration intervention on Port'Alba. "There are dirtied walls of buildings - he explains - in the presence of a poorly and poorly lit place. Yet this is a place that should be in itself one of the most beautiful and visitable places in the city. It also matters that we Neapolitans frequent it more and it is something that I propose first of all to do together with the best forces of this city. Knowing that places like the Red room will reopen is very important for all of us and I hope it will be a first beacon in the reopening of many bookstores. Seeing them closed is a blow to the heart for every Neapolitan who walked these streets as a boy, loving it”.

The Mayor Gaetano Manfredi promised: "The final restyling of the arch within 12 months and more protection for the Via dei Libri. Today with this movement of booksellers, writers and in general of the people of Naples, the idea of ​​a Via Port'Alba that has strengthened constraints as a place of culture in Naples is being proposed with great energy. A clear message is also coming from tourists and therefore we at the Municipality are working so that this becomes another place to discover other pieces of Naples".

Manfredi starts from the restoration of the arch, which is unsafe. “We need to intervene from the upper part, which is private,” he explained, “to eliminate the water infiltration. Now we are working to overcome the bureaucratic problems and on who should intervene, to definitively resolve this problem, knowing that there is a legal dispute underway for which we will have an answer.

We are working to find a solution as we managed to do at Galleria Umberto and I hope that by the end of the year we can start here, having an overview of the type of interventions to be done. We are already planning the funds if it is up to us and then immediately after we will have a meeting with private individuals to discuss the best solution. Obviously the work will have to be done in the warm season and I hope that everything will be finished within a year from today. We are also working to give Port'Alba a strengthened protection on the ban on bars, like the one we did in San Gregorio Armeno"

. On the bookstores in economic difficulty that are closing, Manfredi stressed that "we will work to regulate the rental prices - he said - and not put the booksellers in competition with other types of activities that are clearly more profitable but less cultural. Here the decorum of the street is a very important aspect but we are working so that this can return to being the street of books, there is a historical identity and strong protection by the Municipality. On this I believe that the Superintendency and the Region can agree".

The Saletta Rossa of the Mazzei bookshop will reopen in spring

It begins with the opening of the construction site of the Mazzei library the initiative for the renovation and relaunch of Port'Alba, a historic street in Naples of bookshops with new volumes and used texts, launched by the newspaper Il Mattino. The large space that belonged to Guida was purchased by the owners of the Mazzei bookshops that are in other areas of Naples from San Pietro a Majella to San Biagio dei Librai.

“We will open in the spring,” explains Francesca Mazzei, a young member of the family. “The Municipality helped us and we are preparing by doing the work.” The bookstore will be called “Saletta rossa” and will be “a bookstore,” she adds, “between innovation and tradition. There will be a game center on cultural games, a room for initiatives, but also contemporary art exhibitions. One of the first exhibitions will be on Totó, of whom we are the publishing house for his descendants, and we will exhibit his personal objects, clothing, photographs and writings.”

The bookshop also expects a definitive renovation of the arch that historically provides access to ancient Naples: "It is important - underlines Mazzei - the work of the institutions on Arco Port'Alba, it is important for the safety of school pupils and tourists who are always thousands here".