Naples pays tribute to Bud Spencer: a preview of the mural unveiled at the Maschio Angioino.

Naples — Ten years without Bud Spencer, and Naples has chosen to celebrate him with a mural that will welcome him at the subway exit of the Centro Direzionale, in the heart of the new polycentric city the administration is investing in. The work was unveiled today in the Sala della Loggia del Maschio Angioino, in the presence of city officials and the actor's family.

The initiative, promoted by Forza Italia city councilor Gennaro Demetrio Paipais and named "A Mural for Bud" by the City Council, brought together the Councilor for Tourism and Productive Activities Teresa Armato, the Councilor for Infrastructure Edoardo Cosenza, the coordinator of Cultural Policies Sergio Locoratolo, the mayor's delegate for music, cinema, and audiovisuals Ferdinando Tozzi, and the director of Rai Documentari Luigi Del Plavignano. Alongside them was Giuseppe Pedersoli, son of Carlo Pedersoli—real name Bud Spencer.

"An eclectic character, a great athlete, a great actor, a man who shaped the times he lived in and was deeply connected to Naples," said Councilor Armato. "The city is today granting him an important recognition: a mural that puts him alongside other great Neapolitans, some by adoption like Maradona, others by birth.

It will be at the Centro Direzionale at the metro exit, and this has a symbolic value: it is a place in which the administration is investing heavily to realize the idea of ​​a polycentric city and promote a redevelopment project that, with the opening of the metro and other infrastructure projects, will become a real reality in some time."

For Councilor Paipais, «it's just the beginning because Bud Spencer deserves much more in the city: on June 27th, at the end of

On the tenth anniversary of his death, I will ask the City Council to name a square after him."
Visibly moved, Giuseppe Pedersoli recalled "an ancient, solid, emotional bond that unites us on these occasions to remember him ten years after his passing with special emotion. The recognition he continues to hold in people's hearts is a way to feel him less distant and less absent. His connection with Naples was special, from birth, his sporting career, but above all his personality, creativity, and imagination: he joked that he was Neapolitan first, then Italian, and with Piedone's films he carried this into his artistic career."

The work, expected to be completed in the coming months, will enhance the Centro Direzionale area, currently undergoing urban transformation, offering commuters and visitors a visual tribute to one of the most beloved figures in Italian popular cinema, born in Naples on October 31, 1929, and passed away in Rome on June 27, 2016.