The Art Stations of Naples

Naples has one of the world's great public-art projects, Stazioni dell'Arte — Art Stations. When digging new metro lines, the city handed them to international artists and architects who turned subways into art galleries you ride through on your way to work. Toledo is often called the most beautiful metro station in the world. You can of course ride it all yourself for the price of a metro ticket. But riding the metro through a scattered underground collection with the man who helped to envision and install some of the art can't be replicated. Fabrizio gave technical assistance to William Kentridge on the Toledo mosaics, coordinated Rebecca Horn's installation on Line 6, and briefed Joseph Kosuth on his station's architecture. He can tell you what it takes to set a 26 metre mosaic underground. Over three hours, he takes you through a handful of metro stations, between harbor and old town — on foot and, fittingly, by the metro, regaling you with the human stories behind the art.

These subway stops hold major works by important artists — Arte Povera, Conceptual art, contemporary heavyweights — the kind a serious museum would build a wing around. But a museum gathers its collection in one place, with labels and audio guides. Here it's scattered fifty meters underground across a working metro — a mosaic here, an installation two stops away — and at commuter speed you just walk straight past it unless you're led through it with intention. Fabrizio was present when the vision and construction were being worked out. So, at each point, he shares his story of the artwork. With some artists, he had to describe the stations' architecture and the tangle of city above them, so they understood where their work would live. He was often the bridge between the artist and the city. Surfacing from one station and descending into the next, you experience both worlds — the neighborhoods above and the art below. Fabrizio, an architect and insider, provides genuinely rare access.

Fabrizio holds a PhD in Architectural Design and taught at the School of Architecture of the Bari Polytechnic. His research has focused on the relationship between art and architecture. For more than twenty-five years he has worked in Naples and Milan as an independent producer and coordinator for artists, galleries, and cultural institutions — among them the Lia Rumma and Studio Trisorio galleries, Hangar Bicocca in Milan, the Madre and Capodimonte museums in Naples, and Artecinema, Naples' international festival of film on art and architecture. During this time, he has worked closely with more than thirty artists across generations. It was this work that brought him inside the Art Stations project, alongside figures like William Kentridge, Joseph Kosuth, and Rebecca Horn. As a guide, he offers what that history gave him: an interpretation of Naples through its stones and its people — the artists, architects, and neighborhoods the work was built into.

Comfortable shoes — you'll be on your feet through the stations and on and off the metro, with some escalators and stairs. Bring water, especially in the warmer months.