The Villa Comunale is a park in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It was built in the 1780s by King Ferdinand IV (later known as Ferdinand I of the

Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...

) on land reclaimed along the coast between the main body of the city and the small port of

Mergellina Mergellina is a coastal district of the city of Naples, Italy. It is located in the quartiere of Chiaia. It stands at the foot of the Posillipo Hill and faces the Castel dell'Ovo. Some people say the name derives from "mergoglino", a local name fo ...

. The park was originally a "Royal Garden", reserved for members of the royal family, but open to the public on special holidays such as the Festival of

Piedigrotta Piedigrotta (; nap, Piererotta ; "at the foot of the grotto") is a section of the Chiaia quarter of Naples, Italy, so-called for the presence of the Church of the Madonna of Piedigrotta near the entrance to the Crypta Neapolitana. The area w ...

. The park was opened to the general public on a permanent basis in 1869 after the unification of

. The park houses the

Anton Dohrn Felix Anton Dohrn FRS FRSE (29 December 1840 – 26 September 1909) was a prominent German Darwinist and the founder and first director of the first zoological research station in the world, the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, Italy. He worked ...

aquarium, a renowned scientific institution built in the 1870s. The seaside road, via

Caracciolo Caracciolo () is an Italian surname most associated with the noble House of Carácciolo from the Kingdom of Naples. Other people with the name include: * Alberto Caracciolo, Argentinian musician * Andrea Caracciolo, Italian footballer * Battiste ...

, which now lies between the aquarium and the sea, is another more recent reclamation project added to the city in 1900 to provide another connecting road between the city and the suburbs to the west. The Villa Comunale Park stretches over through an area of land between Pizzofalcone and Posillipo Hills and follows the curve of the bay from Piazza Vittoria to Piazza della Repubblica.

References

External links

Napoli Unplugged
Buildings and structures in Naples 1780s establishments in Italy Parks in Naples {{Campania-geo-stub