The Centro Direzionale is a service center in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. The district is mainly devoted to business.

The project of the Centro Direzionale dates back to 1964. It was designed in 1982 by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange

Kenzo Tange

was a Japanese architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five continents. Tange was also an influential protagonist of...

.

The Centro Direzionale is more than one square kilometer wide and is situated in the Poggioreale section of the city, near the central train station. The Center is in what was traditionally the worst part of the city, adjacent to the Poggioreale prison, the largest prison in southern Italy.

The layout include 18 "islands" of buildings, with high-rises up to 100 meters. There are office buildings as well as residential flats. The Center is meant to accommodate most, if not all, of the administrative offices of the city of Naples, such as the new Hall of Justice. It also includes a pedestrian zone at ground level with shops, restaurants and hotels. There is an underground parking facility with escalators running up into the middle of the large pedestrian concourse, an area adorned with fountains, benches, greenery and a church.

The Centro Direzionale is home to the tallest building in southern Italy, the Telecom Italia

Telecom Italia

Telecom Italia is the largest Italian telecommunications company, also active in the media and manufacturing industries. Now a private concern listed on the Borsa Italiana, it was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies, the most important of which was...

 Tower.

It is served by an underground train station on the Circumvesuviana

Circumvesuviana

Circumvesuviana is a group of narrow-gauge railways connecting towns to the south-east of Naples, Italy. Its tracks run around the base of Mount Vesuvius, and , they completely encircle it, as well as running on down the Sorrento peninsula...

line.

External links

Official website