Naples, Italy
Mission Title: The Good Volcano - Renzo Piano's Vulcano Buono Mall
Mission By: Marco Bassano, Andrea Piccolo
Mission Finished on Date: 22-05-2008
SCRIPT
- Tape the Vulcano Buono from afar by car.
- Tape it from the highway and from Mount Vesuvius.
- Try to give a visual interpretation to the name "Good Volcano" in relationship with Vesuvius.
- Spend a few hours on the inside of the complex, ask the people how much time do they spend there, whether they're just shopping or hanging out. Ask some of the people who work there about the way the center is affecting the community outside of it.
- And lest we forgot, it's all in the shadow of a massive volcano that could theoretically blow at any minute. Ask people if they ever think of an eruption while shopping.
TRAVEL BAG
- “Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei” (1959) by Mario Bonnard and Sergio Leone
- “Goethe and Palladio: Goethe's Study of the Relationship Between Art and Nature, Leading Through Architecture to the Discovery of the Metamorphosis of Plants” by David Lowe and Simon Sharp
- “O' Vesuvio” by Domenico Modugno
- Fire retardant umbrella
Can a mall change the image of a volcano?
Though treated like a distant image on a pretty postcard, Mount Vesuvius has erupted (and dangerously) dozens of times in modern history. Even though it hasn't blown since WWII (where it took out a squadron of Allied bombers), from the immolation of ancient Pompeii to its simple physical presence over Naples, the catastrophic beauty of Mount Vesuvius has entered firmly into the popular imagination. Recently, Vesuvius’ profile inspired architect Renzo Piano to design Vulcano Buono, a gigantic mall covering over a 147,000 square meters just a few kilometers away from Naples, containing a supermarket, over 180 shops, a multiplex cinema with 9 screens and a 150 room Holiday Inn hotel.
Piano designed the Vulcano Buono, especially its central plaza, to become a vital social space, with ample room for people to gather in and spend their spare time. The regional officials of Campania meant the complex to be one of several attempts to increase trade and employment in the Nola area. And the commercial investors want to make money. All three visions are vying to use the imaginary of the volcano to create a building that serves their interests in the region.
Mission Report
Andrea and I wanted to document a trip through space and time into the city of Naples and the new metropolitan reality of the small cities of the Neapolitean province.
The stereotype view of Vesuvius is usually the one taken from the sea; it was different for once to shoot it from the up-country of Nola. To the question "can a mall center change the image of a volcano?" the answer is positive. Many people who work in it come from Naples: their run has been similar to a gold fever, they imagined that a brand new world would come out from this rebuilt crater, and what was feeding these fantasies was the echo of a famous name: Renzo Piano. The center, after an opening in the name of innovation, is more and more becoming a datum point for the people from Nola, who differently read the name "Good Volcano," depending on their age, their cultural degree, their enthusiasm of the moment. It's "good" because it offers an occasion to relax, because it's generated new jobs, because somehow it provided a new identity for the surrounding area.
Marco Bassano - Andrea Piccolo
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