Photo: IMAGO / Gruppo LiveMedia
From our editorial team
The sails of Scampia, the "Vele di Scampia", have been a symbol of organised crime and the failure of the state in Naples since the bestseller and Netflix hit "Gomorrah". The days of the "monuments to failure" are numbered. The demolition is underway.
Naples - The former social hotspot with concrete-covered tower blocks and narrow ravines is set to become a completely different, new Scampia. Definitely one without organised crime. That is the plan of Mayor Gaetano Manfredi, who announced locally at the beginning of the year: "The state is here. And this is no longer the Scampia from Gomorrah." That was when the last eleven families moved out of the "Vela Rossa", the red sail. The wrecking balls came immediately afterwards. The starting signal for the ambitious "Restart Scampia" project.
Residential silos for more than 70,000 people
The aim is to revitalise the entire suburb, which was built from the ground up in the early 1960s. The towers of seven buildings were designed to resemble sails. Designed by Francesco Di Salvo the "Vele" were to become home to more than 70,000 people in a confined space. Planned as "living in a residential community" with "socialisation centres" and many on-site services. Things turned out differently. The "Vele" became the largest drug transshipment centre in Europe. The confusing and intricate corridors and piazzas in the buildings, which were intended to be reminiscent of the historic centre of Naples, made the work of the police considerably more difficult.
The story of a decline
The concrete giants planned as a showcase project increasingly fell into disrepair over the years and were ultimately uninhabitable, although people still lived there. At the end of the 1990s, the city of Naples began to relocate the residents. By 2003, the first three of the seven "Vele" had been demolished. The demolition of three more "Vele" and the renovation of the remaining "Vela Celeste" as the administrative centre of the city of Naples had already been decided when a balcony on the third floor of the "Vele Celeste" collapsed in July 2024. Eleven people, including seven children between the ages of 2 and 7, were injured. Three people, a mother, her daughter (†29) and her son (†35) died. 475 families had to be evacuated. The fatal accident significantly accelerated the resettlement of the remaining residents. The city had expected it to take at least two years, but now it only took a few months.
Half of the former residents had to stay with relatives due to a lack of available accommodation, while others temporarily occupied the University of Naples. The first residential complexes should be ready by mid-2026. The "Vele" committee is also calling for jobs to be set up locally so that the residents have prospects and the old hopelessness is not repeated. By the end of 2027, the whole of Scampia should shine in new splendour. Green spaces and schools instead of concrete wastelands and dreariness. It is still unclear how many former residents will return.
