Via Toledo Naples
Latest update: 29 January 2024
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Naples' main thoroughfare Via Toledo stretches from Piazza Dante at the edge of the city's centro storico, south to Piazza Trieste e Trento. The space in between is a busy shopping street that gets thronged with crowds at the busiest times of the day.
The street was created in 1536 and named after the Spanish Viceroy of Naples called Pedro de Toledo. |
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A good deal of importance surrounds the name and no shortage of controversy either. In the wake of the Risorgimento of the 19th century, the process by which Italy became unified, it was decided that the street would be renamed Via Roma. This was part of a systematic attempt by the authorities of the fledgling government to Italianise the peninsula which had hitherto been made of a number of smaller states, kingdoms and duchies.
It's for this reason that the country is full of squares, streets and buildings named after legendary Italian figures such as Garibaldi, Mazzini and Cavour who were all instrumental in the unification process. Alongside those famous figures there's a fair sprinkling of the use of Italian city names such as Piazza Venezia in Rome or the attempted Via Roma here in Naples.
So whilst the Google map currently shows the street as Via Toledo and indeed, it has the Toledo Metro station halfway along it, to many Neapolitans it's still known as Via Roma. Confusing isn't it!
It's for this reason that the country is full of squares, streets and buildings named after legendary Italian figures such as Garibaldi, Mazzini and Cavour who were all instrumental in the unification process. Alongside those famous figures there's a fair sprinkling of the use of Italian city names such as Piazza Venezia in Rome or the attempted Via Roma here in Naples.
So whilst the Google map currently shows the street as Via Toledo and indeed, it has the Toledo Metro station halfway along it, to many Neapolitans it's still known as Via Roma. Confusing isn't it!
City: Naples
Region: Campania
Province: Metropolitan City of Naples
Nearest Metro station: Toledo - Line 1 - 10 m - 1 minute walk
Region: Campania
Province: Metropolitan City of Naples
Nearest Metro station: Toledo - Line 1 - 10 m - 1 minute walk
