Permanences and morphologies of historical landscapes. The hill of the Vomero in Naples

The historical iconography of Naples until the end of the nineteenth century has reproduced the image of a seaside town surrounded by green hills in which they were built next to houses, villas and small rural centers, great architectures such as the Castel Sant'Elmo with the Certosa, the Palace of Capodimonte, the hermitage of Camaldoli. Subsequently, the landscape of the town has changed: it has intensified the building fabric until to endanger a cultural heritage of world renown. The hill of the Vomero was the one that more has lived important changes that have led to a strong alteration of its original configuration. The paper aims to identify, through a collation of historical views and topographic maps with cartography latest, several surviving elements of historical landscapes that no longer exist in an area that has over time changed its activity from agricultural to edificatoria. Particular attention will be paid also to the identification of the ancient footpaths that connected the city to the hill of the Vomero, still present in the urban fabric as the ascent of Petraio and of S. Francis and the Pedamentina. These small streets, no longer having the original function being changed over time the road system of the town, tend to degrade more and more. The objective of this paper is to expand and sustain the processes of knowledge of the cultural identity of a place to help to conserve memory and to safeguard the cultural heritage in danger of disappearing forever.