La 'Torre superpanoramica' del rione Sannazzaro-Posillipo nei progetti degli anni Trenta di Adolfo Avena

In this paper we examine the outcome of Adolfo Avena’s work about the urban renewal of Naples. Famous liberty architect, expert of restoration and conservation of monuments, he has given a new stimulus to transportation engineering, but his role in urban planning is still little-known. Between 1925 and 1931 he planned three quarters of expansion: “San Giuseppe-Carità”, “Vomero-Belvedere”, “Ferrovia-Maddalena”, in which he developed his idea of "Greater Naples" promoted by the Alto Commissariato. He has focused his projects on the following main points: wide avenues, roads connecting with the old town centre, circular squares with arcades and the preservation of many monuments in the urban tissue. In 1931, he proposed a project of a Panoramic Tower on the Posillipo hill. A great work aimed to increase Neapolitan tourism, located in the Sannazaro-Posillipo district. He elaborates the theme of the vertical structure of observatory to 360° on the city as a proposal, at the end of the nineteenth century, in the context of the project of airway. It was a powerful tower 70 meters high, characterized by harsh forms and neo-medieval decorative elements. An unrealized project through which Avena interprets how modern Naples lives its tourist vocation.