RESOURCES IN S. GIOVANNI

From mills to bourbon workshops

The marshy nature of the ground and the presence of many torrent-like rivers favoured a concentration of mills, which increased taking advantage of this sole resource present in this area, since the ducal age. The mill industry had a certain importance in the area. It is attested by the construction, beyond the bridge of Maddalena, of a "stately factory of Public Granai", projected by Fuga from regal funds in 1778. During the first years of  the previous century and with the advent of the industrial era, S. Giovanni seemed to be the ideal place to install the first workshops. As a matter of fact when king Ferdinando II of Borbone decided to construct the first railway on the peninsula, he chose Pietrarsa. This place was considered very suitable for the building of the first industrial workshop. In fact the first locomotives built by the engineer Bjard were produced there.

Before and after the Unification of Italy, several workshops, foundries and factories of various production, began to diffuse in the area because of  the railway and the construction of locomotives. In addition, in the second half of our century, textile industries such as Snia Viscosa, now abandoned, and the Agip Petrolium Company started.

The Corradini Industry

In 1872 a new industry, which produced copper and brass, emerged at San Giovanni a Teduccio. It was opened with French funds and in 1882 it was bought by the Swiss Giuseppe Corradini, whose name it still keeps. This company remained in productivity up to 1949.

The company flourished reaching great dimensions, which can still be seen today, with a surface area of 3000 sq metres, including some buildings that probably go back to the last part of the sixteenth century.

Cirio

The Canning Industry Cirio was born  thanks to Francesco Cirio (1836-1900), a courageous man, who started in Turin by opening a workshop that canned peas. His business was successful, it extended itself commercially and stretched out through most parts of Italy and Europe.

In the southern part of Italy, the Cirio Company also had factories and farms in Castellamare di Stabia, Paestum, Pagani, Mondragone, Pontecagnano, Vieste, Sala Consilina, Caiazzo, Capua and on about 100 hectares of the Matese Mountains.

The workshops of Pietrarsa

The old Pietrarsa workshops are in San Giovanni near  the border line with  Portici. In 1839, for the occasion of the construction of the first railway on the peninsula (Napoli-Portici), the locomotion material was produced at Pietrarsa, called in the olden days " Pietra Bianca" (white stone). Two years later a training school for engineer officers was set up. In 1845 and in 1849 the workshops were visited by famous people such as the Russian tsar Nicholas and Pius IX, who blessed them.

In 1852 a colossal statue of Ferdinando II was built at Pietrarsa; today it can still be admired.  In 1905 the workshops were absorbed by the State Railway. In the 20s and 30s work was done to modernise the plants. After the World War II, due to the continuous development of the electric locomotive, Pietrarsa slowly began going under. Today Pietrarsa is a beautiful Railway Museum, where many models of electric locomotives are on display.

There one can admire the first train, that crossed Napoli-Portici in 1839 and some of the royal coach trains that belonged to the Savoia. One can arrive at the museum, walking along  Pietrarsa street, which from Corso San Giovanni a Teduccio leads to the area of the ancient workshop, and connects the boundaries of Napoli and Portici.  It is also accessible from Pietrarsa - San Giorgio a Cremano Railway Station (FF.SS).