Welcome to the site Napoliforme

Considered to be the most beautiful promenade in the world since its inauguration in 1781, from where one can admire the natural spectacle of the gulf amidst groves and flower beds, today as in the past. Commissioned by Ferdinand IV of Bourbon and designed by Carlo Vanvitelli, the Villa followed the example of French gardens: long parallel avenues, with statues, partly copies of ancient works, and fountains, and constant attention to the panoramic view. Over time, after the Unification of Italy, the Villa became first "National" and then "Municipal", and was enlarged and modified, with the creation of groves with flowerbeds, in the taste of the romantic English garden, and the extension of the avenues, adorned with busts dedicated to famous people and small decorative buildings, to cover an extension of over a kilometre (from Piazza Vittoria to Piazza della Repubblica). Holm oaks, pines, eucalyptus, horse chestnuts, locust trees, plane trees, maples, chorisia, tree of paradise, varieties of oaks and palms, cycas and shrubs paint the large park with multicoloured blooms in spring. Small bars (the chalets), set up in the latest 20th century interventions (1997-1999), offer refreshment during the walk. The garden houses the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (1872), a research centre for marine flora and fauna and home to Europe's oldest aquarium, the Cassa Armonica (1877), an innovative iron and cast iron structure with a glass dome, and the Casina del Boschetto, formerly the Circolo della Stampa (1948). At the end of the nineteenth century, the urban redevelopment of the area (1875-1883), with the construction of the coastal road axis, altered the original direct relationship between the garden and the sea but at the same time created one of Europe's most attractive promenades and the road destined to become famous for its beauty.