With a total length of 7.2 kilometers, Naples-Portici is Italy's first railway line. The infrastructure was inaugurated in 1839 in the presence of King Ferdinand II, ruler of what was one of the most powerful states in Europe, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Let's take a look at the history of one of the masterpieces of Italian engineering.

The idea of building a railway line connecting the Vesuvian towns to the city of Naples became a reality in 1936. The work was entrusted to the engineer Armando Giuseppe Bayard de la Vigtrie, who completed the project in just three years. The steam locomotive that first ran on the railway tracks was named Vesuvius in honor of the nearby volcano.