Description
The Pietrarsa National Railway Museum is the great museum of Italian trains, in a former locomotive factory on the sea between Naples, Portici and San Giorgio a Cremano. Seven pavilions, about 36,000 square meters, with steam, electric and diesel locomotives, period carriages and even a royal train.
Here the Bourbons had the first locomotive factory in Italy. The Royal Pietrarsa Works were founded in 1840 at the wish of Ferdinand II as an iron and steel works, and from 1845 began building locomotives. In 1853 about 700 workers were employed there.
In the first pavilion you start with the past: the historical reconstruction of the first train of the Naples-Portici line, the locomotive Bayard, followed by steam locomotives and three-phase electric ones. The second pavilion gathers scale models of rolling stock, layouts and everyday railway objects.
The third pavilion has the old workshop machinery, a naval section and the most recent past: diesel and electric railcars, carriages and direct-current locomotives. Here is the royal train, eleven cars built in 1929 for the wedding of Umberto II of Savoy and Marie José of Belgium.
Among the steam locomotives are the 290 group, the 835 group and the 480 group.
The museum also has the Art Nouveau Royal Salon, with a ceiling in pure gold leaf and a table in exotic mahogany, and the saloon car of the Savoy train. Among the works of art stands out the imposing statue of Ferdinand II, cast in iron in the same workshop.
The route brings together machines from different eras: from the first steam locomotives to the three-phase electrics, up to the diesel locomotives. You see how the way of traveling changed in less than a century.
Steam locomotive 740.115 was one of those that pulled the train of the Unknown Soldier. Among the most curious examples is the 800, known as "the cube", built by Maffei in 1907.
Czar Nicholas I, on a visit, wanted to copy Pietrarsa for the Kronstadt railway complex; in 1849 Pope Pius IX came too. Then came the Unification of Italy and the wind changed: a report commissioned by the Piedmontese government recommended selling it or tearing it down.
The new management cut jobs. On August 6, 1863 a charge by the bersaglieri against striking workers left seven dead. The factory carried on until 1975, then became a museum, inaugurated on October 7, 1989 for the 150th anniversary of Italian railways.
Don't miss
• The reconstruction of the first train.
• The royal train.
• The Art Nouveau Royal Salon.
• The statue of Ferdinand II.
Did you know?
• The locomotive of the first train is a copy of the Bayard: it was the only one for which drawings existed, even though at the inauguration it was the Vesuvio that ran.
• In the Bourbons' Pietrarsa the first seven locomotives were assembled with parts that came from England.
Here the Bourbons had the first locomotive factory in Italy. The Royal Pietrarsa Works were founded in 1840 at the wish of Ferdinand II as an iron and steel works, and from 1845 began building locomotives. In 1853 about 700 workers were employed there.
In the first pavilion you start with the past: the historical reconstruction of the first train of the Naples-Portici line, the locomotive Bayard, followed by steam locomotives and three-phase electric ones. The second pavilion gathers scale models of rolling stock, layouts and everyday railway objects.
The third pavilion has the old workshop machinery, a naval section and the most recent past: diesel and electric railcars, carriages and direct-current locomotives. Here is the royal train, eleven cars built in 1929 for the wedding of Umberto II of Savoy and Marie José of Belgium.
Among the steam locomotives are the 290 group, the 835 group and the 480 group.
The museum also has the Art Nouveau Royal Salon, with a ceiling in pure gold leaf and a table in exotic mahogany, and the saloon car of the Savoy train. Among the works of art stands out the imposing statue of Ferdinand II, cast in iron in the same workshop.
The route brings together machines from different eras: from the first steam locomotives to the three-phase electrics, up to the diesel locomotives. You see how the way of traveling changed in less than a century.
Steam locomotive 740.115 was one of those that pulled the train of the Unknown Soldier. Among the most curious examples is the 800, known as "the cube", built by Maffei in 1907.
Czar Nicholas I, on a visit, wanted to copy Pietrarsa for the Kronstadt railway complex; in 1849 Pope Pius IX came too. Then came the Unification of Italy and the wind changed: a report commissioned by the Piedmontese government recommended selling it or tearing it down.
The new management cut jobs. On August 6, 1863 a charge by the bersaglieri against striking workers left seven dead. The factory carried on until 1975, then became a museum, inaugurated on October 7, 1989 for the 150th anniversary of Italian railways.
Don't miss
• The reconstruction of the first train.
• The royal train.
• The Art Nouveau Royal Salon.
• The statue of Ferdinand II.
Did you know?
• The locomotive of the first train is a copy of the Bayard: it was the only one for which drawings existed, even though at the inauguration it was the Vesuvio that ran.
• In the Bourbons' Pietrarsa the first seven locomotives were assembled with parts that came from England.