Naples – After thirty years of waiting and projects never realized, the proposal of the City of Music and Sports returns to the center of the city debate.
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Relaunching it is Carmine Attanasio, former president of the Environment Commission of the Municipality of Naples for three terms and now Environment Manager of the Accademia Qualità della Vita.
Attanasio, together with Domenico Esposito, president of the Academy, has started a new popular petition to redesign the future of Bagnoli, asking for the realization of an ambitious project that will transform the area into a cultural, sports and tourist center of international importance.
An idea born thirty years ago
The proposal for the City of Music and Sport has its roots in the 90s, when Attanasio was among the first to propose a 15.000-seat multimedia auditorium inside the Coroglio park, envisaged by the Western Variant.
“It was clear even then that without an ‘economic engine,’ that park would never have been built,” Attanasio says. However, the amendment was scaled back, and today the area houses a mere 300-seat auditorium, which Attanasio calls “ridiculous.”
Industrial Archaeology: A Wrong Choice?
According to Attanasio, the decision to preserve sixteen industrial archaeology sites in Bagnoli was “utopian, ideological and crazy.” “Those structures are only reminders of an environmental disaster and the deaths of thousands of people,” he says. For Attanasio, it would have been enough to keep the beautiful large chimney standing, a symbol of workers’ struggles, without sacrificing the entire area to a past that, in his opinion, does not represent the city’s future.
The new proposal: a tourist and sports hub
The petition launched by Attanasio and Esposito aims to transform Bagnoli into a City of Music, Sports and Entertainment, inspired by the great American theme parks.
The project includes the creation of a tourist hub that could generate 30.000 direct and indirect jobs and attract thousands of visitors each year. In addition, the plan includes a XNUMX-hectare sports citadel, intended for Calcio Napoli, with cutting-edge facilities for the team and to promote sports practice among young people.
“We want to make Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni understand that this area cannot be abandoned to 'cosmic nothingness',” explain the promoters. “Here there is the potential to create an international excellence, which will bring economic and cultural benefits to Naples and the entire country”.
The support of Napoli Football Club and the artists
Attanasio and Esposito launch an appeal to the president of Napoli Calcio, Aurelio De Laurentiis, and to all the artists of the city to support the petition. “Naples, with its successes, has contributed to spreading the Naples brand in the world. This project could be a further driving force for the city”, they underline.
A challenge for the future
The petition represents an ambitious challenge to revive an area that has been abandoned for too long. With the support of citizens and institutions, Bagnoli could transform from a symbol of degradation into an engine of rebirth, projecting Naples into the future.
Article published on March 10, 2025 - 17pm
