Morfologia del sistema urbano della città di Napoli tra architettura e paesaggio

The seafront and the particular conformation of the bay of Naples allowed to represent over time the city in an immediately recognizable way because any observer can admire its landscape from the sea or from the ends of the gulf. In fact, concerning Naples, morphology, urban form and its representation are closely correlated terms, because the orography of soil, the slope of its original structure have been the occasion and the reason of its representations. Naples may be indeed contained in a look, it can be memorized in the overall perception of its landscape and it can give rise to different representations where the observer lives in the space of figuration, with reference to real or imaginary points of view. It must be underlined also the particular profile of its hills which form two natural amphitheatres, one of which to the west between the hills of Posillipo, Vomero and Pizzofalcone and the other to the east towards Vesuvius which includes the ancient town. These two areas are ideally separated by the axis which connects the Castel dell’Ovo with San Martino hill but they seem to recover their continuity through other axes which cross them and that express the urban and morphological system. In particular, the coastal axis defines the edge of the town from Mergellina up to piazza Mercato, together with Corso Vittorio Emanuele overlooking the sea. This work is aimed at showing the study of typology and morphology of these urban axes, which are highly representative of the connection between nature and artifact in Naples, by illustrating an analysis methodology able to indicate its most significant characteristics at the architectural and urban scales.