News and events

curated by Maria Teresa Como

23 May 2026

11:00 a.m. – Piazza Sannazaro (near Bar Agrillo)

The Lost Villas of Mergellina and the Foot of Posillipo between the Early Renaissance and the Early Seventeenth Century: In Search of the Character of the Place

guided by Maria Gabriella Pezone, Giuseppe Pignatelli (University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”) and Maria Teresa Como (Suor Orsola Benincasa University)

View the poster

On Wednesday, May 6, at the headquarters of the Società Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti in Naples, Andrea Pane will present the volume NeaVia. The Neapolitan Villa. Antiquity and Nature between the Renaissance and the Baroque, edited by Maria Gabriella Pezone and Angela Michela Convertini (Florence: Firenze University Press, 2025). The book presents the results of the first year of research within the NeaVia project, dedicated to the study of Neapolitan villas in the early modern period (15th–18th centuries).

Introduction:
• Maria Gabriella Pezone, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” | Principal Investigator of the NeaVia project

Presentation:
• Andrea Pane, University of Naples Federico II

The authors and editors will also take part in the discussion.

Wednesday, May 6, 3:45 PM
Società Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti in Naples
Via Mezzocannone 8, Naples

The event will also be available online at the following link:
https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/32469848579569?p=NJzsEjNpdfLzEZVWcb

The volume is available on the Firenze University Press website:
https://books.fupress.com/catalogue/neavia-la-villa-napoletana-antichit-e-natura-tra-rinascimento-e-barocco/16213

Monday, May 4, as part of the PhD Programme in History and Transmission of Cultural Heritage at DiLBeC, members of the NeaVia research project will present its main outcomes across digital humanities, architectural history, and archaeology.

Participants:

• Maria Gabriella Pezone, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” | Principal Investigator of the NeaVia project
• Giuseppe Pignatelli Spinazzola, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”
• Paola Carfora, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”
• Maria Teresa Como, University of Naples Suor Orsola Benincasa

Monday, May 4, 2:00–6:00 PM
University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”
DiLBeC – Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage
Via Raffaele Perla 21, Santa Maria Capua Vetere (CE)

On the occasion of the European Heritage Days, last Sunday the members of the Nea_Via research group guided visitors in retracing the history of the villas built along the Mergellina seafront. Starting from the church of Santa Maria di Piedigrotta, passing by Palazzo Pescolanciano and the fishing lodge of Ferdinand IV, formerly belonging to Andrea Bonito, duca dell’Isola, and arriving at the church of Santa Maria del Parto, the tour revisited the events concerning the vast estate of the poet Jacopo Sannazaro, from the early sixteenth century up to the profound urban transformation that took place from the late nineteenth century onwards.

Special thanks to Maria Gabriella Pezone, Principal Investigator of the project, Maria Teresa Como, Giuseppe Pignatelli Spinazzola, and Angela Michela Convertini

Nea_Via will once again participate in the European Heritage Days with a guided tour curated by the research group.

The itinerary will begin at Palazzo Pescolanciano and proceed along the traces of the villas that once stood on the present-day Via Mergellina, reaching the entrance of Via Posillipo and Villa Carafa di Roccella. This urban walk is intended as an opportunity to critically observe continuities, transformations, and reconfigurations of the coastal areas at the foot of Posillipo, the site of the legendary villa of the poet Jacopo Sannazzaro.

Itinerary:

1. Palazzo Pescolanciano
2. Vanished villas along present-day Via Mergellina
3. Casino of Andrea Bonito, later the royal casino of Ferdinand IV
4. Church of Santa Maria del Parto, villa of Jacopo Sannazzaro and of the Prince of Colle d’Anchise
5. Via Posillipo
6. Villa Carafa di Roccella

The event will take place on Sunday, September 28 at 11:00 a.m., meeting in Piazza Piedigrotta 24, Naples, in front of the Church of Santa Maria di Piedigrotta.

Participation requires prior registration through the NeaVia Facebook page, the Instagram account neapolitanvilla, or by writing to neapolitanvillaprin@gmail.com.

Further information is available at: cultura.gov.it.

The XII Congress of AISU – Italian Association of Urban History, titled “The City as a Crossroads: Relations and Exchanges, Intersections and Interweavings in Urban Realities”, came to a close last Saturday at the Department of Architecture of the University of Palermo.

The Nea_Via group presented some of its ongoing research in the session coordinated by Maria Gabriella Pezone, Principal Investigator of the project, together with Maria Teresa Como and Giuseppe Pignatelli Spinazzola. The session was entitled “Early Modern Villas as Crossroads of Versatility in the Contemporary City. Mutations and Continuities for an Interpretation of Urban Place Qualities” and offered reflections on the villa that were enriched through a comparison between the Neapolitan context and those of Veneto and Ferrara.

A special thank you goes to the speakers and attendees, as we look forward to the next opportunity for exchange.

On July 23, 2025, as part of the activities of the PhD Program in Architecture and Cultural Heritage at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Professor Giuseppe Pignatelli Spinazzola will deliver a lecture connected to the PRIN project NEA_VIA – Neapolitan Villa. Antiquities and Nature between Renaissance and Baroque.
The lecture, entitled The Villa as a Place of Collecting: the Alarcón della Valle, the Alvarez de Toledo and the Barile di Caivano along the Chiaia Seashore, will explore the role of Neapolitan villas between the Renaissance and the Baroque as spaces of culture, collecting, and representation.
The event will take place at the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design (via S. Lorenzo ad Septimum 31, Aversa – Aula P1) at 9:30 a.m.

June 6, 2025 – 11:00 AM

sede sussidiaria dell’Archivio di Stato di Napoli

Napoli | Via Egiziaca a Pizzofalcone 44

Details in the attached flyer.