Industrial & Reform (1800–1900)

Naples Risanamento

1885–1915 · Italy · Southern Europe · Hygienist and infrastructural reform urbanism · Planned by Municipality of Naples
City plan of Naples published 1905, during the Risanamento (1885-1915); shows the new straight Corso Umberto I (the Rettifilo) driven through the cleared lower quarters and the post-cholera reorganise
City plan of Naples published 1905, during the Risanamento (1885-1915); shows the new straight Corso Umberto I (the Rettifilo) driven through the cleared lower quarters and the post-cholera reorganise · public-domain

Core idea

Sanitation and boulevards via massive clearance

Why it matters

Hygienist urban reconstruction

Description

A municipal reconstruction programme launched after the 1884 cholera epidemic, carried out by the Municipality of Naples under a special national law of 1885. It demolished large swathes of the dense, low-lying quarters of the old city and drove a new arterial boulevard, the Rettifilo (Corso Umberto I), through the cleared fabric, accompanied by new sewerage, water supply and raised street levels. The works continued in phases into the early twentieth century, remaking much of the historic centre between the railway station and the port.

Significance

The Risanamento is the principal Italian example of hygienist urban surgery in the Haussmann tradition, showing how sanitary crisis could legitimise clearance on a metropolitan scale. It has long been debated for displacing poor residents while leaving much of the underlying housing problem unresolved, and it remains a reference point in discussions of demolition-led renewal in southern Europe.

What shaped it

Sources

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