Naples: The Metropolitan will remain a cinema, agreement reached in the Municipality

Naples - The Metropolitan, the historic cinema on Via Chiaia, will not change its intended use and will continue to be a movie theater.

The decision emerged from a meeting convened by the mayor Gaetano Manfredi at Palazzo San Giacomo, attended by representatives of the State Property Agency, the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Naples (representing the Ministry of Culture), the Intrum company and Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, owner of the building.

Also present was architect Gianluigi Barbato, representing Pluricom, the company that won the contract for the structure.

During the meeting, Mayor Manfredi reiterated the importance of enhancing the Metropolitan while respecting the cultural destination constraint, underlining the socio-cultural role that cinema plays in the urban context.

“I am fully satisfied with the concrete innovations that have emerged,” the mayor declared. “The goal is to preserve the cultural purpose of the structure and protect the workers. The Metropolitan must remain a cultural attraction for the city, and the Municipality will do its part.”

Gianluigi Barbato, representing Pluricom, confirmed the intention to respect the historical function of the cinema, reiterating the commitment to preserve its cultural and identity value. “From the beginning – he explained – we have expressed the desire to maintain the Metropolitan as a cinema, enhancing it in a contemporary logic but respecting its history”.

The meeting revealed a common desire to initiate structural interventions to reopen most of the theaters to the public as soon as possible. In the meantime, Pluricom has made public the content of a letter sent to the mayor by Andrea Occhipinti, sole director of Lucky Red, a film distribution company. Occhipinti expressed his willingness to manage the Metropolitan, with the aim of transforming it into “the most beautiful cinema in Naples, a point of reference for the city”.

“We need the support of the Municipality, the institutions and the citizens – he wrote –. There is a lot of work to do, but we are ready to get involved”.

The meeting therefore marked an important step towards the protection of one of the symbolic places of Neapolitan culture, with the shared commitment to give back to the city a renewed cinema that lives up to its tradition.

Intesa San Paolo has identified a subject that wants to relaunch the Multisala

Intesa Sanpaolo welcomed Mayor Manfredi's invitation to the meeting
Institutional on the issue that concerns Cinema Metropolitan. During the meeting the
Banca had the opportunity to illustrate the path that has affected Cinema up to now and, in particular, highlighted the important support guaranteed to the structure so that, over the last few years, the cinematographic activity would not be interrupted. With regard to the future of the project, Intesa Sanpaolo has identified a subject that intends to relaunch the multiplex, in compliance with the destination constraint, and trusts that the operation can be concluded with the full satisfaction of all parties involved.