Fans of Série Napolitana want to see where Lenu and Lila spent their lives, in the working-class residential area of the city
Forget the Royal Palace, Castel dell'Ovo and Castel Nuovo. Forget the entire Historic Center. Visitors to Naples, Italy, will now find among the tourist destinations a neighborhood that, until very recently, went unnoticed when planning their itinerary.
It's called Rione Luzzatti and is part of the city's industrial area, where mainly local workers live. It is considered a residential community with no major attractions for travelers – especially taking into account the many others that more historical and cultural regions offer.
Photo: Série A Amiga Genial/ Reproduction
What has changed in recent years can be summarized in two words that make up a fictitious name: Elena Ferrante. The author, a pseudonym for a person no one knows who she is, attracted the eyes of the whole world to the neighborhood with the so-called Napolitana Series, a story told in four volumes, which has it as the background.
A beautiful way to get to know the Italian city from the perspective of someone who was born and raised in its streets, the quadrilogy that begins with “The Genius Friend” and ends with “Story of the Lost Girl” passes through some of Naples' historical landmarks, such as Piazza Dei Martiri and Piazza Trieste e Trento.
But it is in the old condominiums, through the windows of the apartments worn out by the Second World War, in the corridors between the low buildings and dark basements of Rione Luzzatti that the plot is told.
Photo: Série A Amiga Genial/ Reproduction
Released in 2011, the book didn't take long to become a best sellers international and, in November last year, it also became a TV series on HBO, with an Italian cast and filming in Rione Luzzatti itself.
The book + series combo boosted local tourism, so that nowadays it is easy to find the so-called “Elena Ferrante tourist packages”, with tours that take you through the main points that serve as a backdrop to the story of the two brilliant friends – as is the case of Rione Luzzatti and Piazza Dei Martiri.
In the case of the neighborhood, anyone who lives in Naples easily recognized it in the lines written by Elena Ferrante. Built during the 20s and expanded in the pre-World War II period, the site was one of those that suffered most from the war. At the time, several of the famous four-story buildings that mark the local architecture were lost, as was the only football stadium that Rione ever had.
By Luciane Belin / Haus
FOLLOW-US
