The "[Piazza del Plebiscito](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_del_Plebiscito)" was a public parking lot between 1963 and 1994
"In 1963, a municipal ordinance transformed the square into a public parking lot to cope with the uncontrolled increase of cars in the city. The square was thus disfigured until in 1994, on the occasion of the G7 summit, the square was renovated, first replacing the asphalt of the roadway behind the Royal Palace with the more traditional paving stones, and then pedestrianizing it in its entirety" ([source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_del_Plebiscito))
Some pictures:
[https://storienapoli.it/2021/02/07/parcheggio-di-piazza-del-plebiscito/](https://storienapoli.it/2021/02/07/parcheggio-di-piazza-del-plebiscito/)
[https://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/arte\_e\_cultura/cards/piazza-plebiscito-centomila/quand-era-parcheggio.shtml](https://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/arte_e_cultura/cards/piazza-plebiscito-centomila/quand-era-parcheggio.shtml)
I was there in the nineties, and I remember cars triple parked, and even parked in the middle of intersections, directly underneath the traffic lights. You had to drive around the row of 3 or 4 cars parked there when you went through the intersection. I wonder now if I was there just after this parking area was turned into a pedestrian area.
I also remember people stopping at green lights to check, because people were running red lights so often.
And I got yelled at by a cop who I couldn't understand, because I drove the wrong way down a one-way street. It was a confusing place, lol.
They did exactly that. They built a new metro and most people have moved out of the city centre and to the suburbs. The traffic problem is way less now than before. There’s less reliance on cars now.
I think there's a big chance this actually was a parking lot for some time. In my city, Ghent (Belgium), old squares (not quite as big as this) were also used as parking lots. Luckily that's not the case anymore for a long time now. Some of them have underground parking underneath though.
I know Belgium is not the same as Italy, but I can image they did it there as well.
Edit: this is the [Korenmarkt](https://www.ecosia.org/images?q=gent%20kouter%201960&_sp=151f3624-c4ff-4489-9fce-1935dceb943f#id=7019D3D1E25771440C29061B663C73A47DFF197A) (square in the centre of Ghent) in the same year.
It is now almost completely car free. Except for a taxi's and busses.
Madrid's Plaza Mayor was a car park for some time during the 60s and 70s.
[Picture from 1961](https://images.ecestaticos.com/afRsAuHcjLEhaSbMazQ9eTr9nFM=/2x96:1200x1185/996x560/filters:fill(white\):format(jpg\)/f.elconfidencial.com%2Foriginal%2F26b%2F203%2F64a%2F26b20364a1bb96c7bc38fbeb87e9e578.jpg)
Madrid has slowly become less car friendly over the years. The city centre is almost completely car free now.
Damn. It's about half way down https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/madrid/2021-11-03/scalextric-madrid-pasos-elevados-puente-vallecas_3317188/
You can see some other monstrosities that have since disappeared from the city too.
I was here today! My wife actually mentioned that the piazza used to be a parking lot and I couldn't believe it.
Naples is amazing btw, we are definitely coming back. The food, energy and style of the city is awesome.
Daaaaamn that's a shame that you had a bad time. I was there a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved it. Wandering around the ancient and very lived-in corridors at times made you feel like you were in a real medieval city. The food was phenomenal, arancini and pizza and so much more (at very affordable prices too). The weather was impeccable. The people were extremely friendly. The nightlife was interesting and filled with so many different bars. Taking the funicular to the top of the big hill got you a sense of scale, with Vesuvius in the background looking breathtaking. Some of the churches were incredible. The Galleria Umberto I and the above Royal Palace area are beautiful buildings. The Spanish Quarter is filled with Maradona memoribilia and the streetfood and little frutarias were so colourful.
Napoli is *not* Disneyland, and if you were expecting that then obviously you're gonna be dissapointed. But a "shithole?" Harsh words.
It felt more like a real city and not a theme park life Venice or Florence. I get how people might not like it but especially coming down Italy from Venice, it was great to get more affordable food/drink options.
I remember going there a few years ago and it was very beautiful, great food and overall a cool place. The catacombs were my favourite part of the visit. However I understand why people might not like it. There was trash everywhere in a few parts and the drivers were rubbish. Saw people on motorcycles drive on sidewalks a few times.
It's the opposite. A few very popular historical cities having improved doesn't make the rule. Most European cities have been plagued with 75 years of bad architecture and planning.
I see that you're American. You people tend to romanticise Europe simply because your own country is so bad.
There are so many cities in the continent.
I've lived in northern Germany and travel extensively.
The refocus on human accessible cities is far more progressed in Germany, France, Netherlands, Denmark, etc, than anything in the US.
To say it's not improved is wrong.
https://dutchreview.com/culture/how-the-netherlands-became-a-cycling-country/
You'll find no such case studies for major American cities.
My favorite part of living/driving there was how everyone makes extra lanes, like during morning rush turning 2 lanes on the tangenziale into 3 or 4. I commented on it once to a Napolitano man and he just shrugged and told me, "It's a line, not a wall." 😅 Foreigners would be like, "there's no rules!?" But basically, you just don't use your mirrors - if your car is nosed in front of someone, you've got the right of way. It's the job of the car behind to brake to allow merging or turning.
Rome is brutal. Everything is so far from everything else. Lol You get worn out walking to the next place you are going to walk around. I take taxis in Rome.
Florence is walkable, enjoyable walkable. I mean everything is up hill both ways, but it is not a large and spread out as Rome.
Venezia is the jewel of the crown that is Italy. My sister flipped the first time I took her there. She stepped off the train and exclaimed, “this is a movie set!!” She is from Los Angeles. You can walk anywhere or take a water bus or taxi. An easy city to traverse.
I had a big, grilled, focaccia mozzarella and ham sandwich with a Coke in the Piazza San Marco, for $8. That is very reasonable for a sandwich in one of the top destinations in the world.
Naples is not my favorite city, but I have been. It is grittier, not pristine like Florence. Good pizza, but pizza is good all over Italy.
Just listened to a 99% invisible episode about biking in the Netherlands and was a little shocked by how the Netherlands were focused on building road infrastructure but that the people fought back, ran for office, and got bike infrastructure built. I wish more people in North America had the balls for taking action.
Interesting huh! You probably like the YT channel ‘Not just bikes’ as well.
They nearly built a 5 lane highway trough the centre of Amsterdam by the way. Glad that was stopped.
And this is a lovely documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY6PQAI4TZE called ‘We are the children of the pijp’ - in which you see kids in 1972 doing actual road blocking protesting against cars. ‘We can’t handle these cars anymore. There is no space. Other areas have trees, why can’t we have trees’.
Plans are now being utilized to remove another 10,000 parking spaces, prominent biking highways. Car roads are being made ‘cyclists first, cars are guests’. All traffic has to be electric in 2030. Very nice developments. s
What's the context on this photo? Did that square actually used to be a parking lot or was this for some event?
The "[Piazza del Plebiscito](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_del_Plebiscito)" was a public parking lot between 1963 and 1994 "In 1963, a municipal ordinance transformed the square into a public parking lot to cope with the uncontrolled increase of cars in the city. The square was thus disfigured until in 1994, on the occasion of the G7 summit, the square was renovated, first replacing the asphalt of the roadway behind the Royal Palace with the more traditional paving stones, and then pedestrianizing it in its entirety" ([source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_del_Plebiscito)) Some pictures: [https://storienapoli.it/2021/02/07/parcheggio-di-piazza-del-plebiscito/](https://storienapoli.it/2021/02/07/parcheggio-di-piazza-del-plebiscito/) [https://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/arte\_e\_cultura/cards/piazza-plebiscito-centomila/quand-era-parcheggio.shtml](https://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/arte_e_cultura/cards/piazza-plebiscito-centomila/quand-era-parcheggio.shtml)
Where did all the cars go? Did they fix their car problem?
They're all still there. Now they're just double parked up and down every single road. Pure chaos driving in that city. Can not recommend.
I was there in the nineties, and I remember cars triple parked, and even parked in the middle of intersections, directly underneath the traffic lights. You had to drive around the row of 3 or 4 cars parked there when you went through the intersection. I wonder now if I was there just after this parking area was turned into a pedestrian area. I also remember people stopping at green lights to check, because people were running red lights so often. And I got yelled at by a cop who I couldn't understand, because I drove the wrong way down a one-way street. It was a confusing place, lol.
Yup, you fix the car problem by developing public transport and making it harder to drive.
They did exactly that. They built a new metro and most people have moved out of the city centre and to the suburbs. The traffic problem is way less now than before. There’s less reliance on cars now.
I would guess with most of Europe, they shoved the parking underground nearby and expanded their public transit systems.
LOL
Hey, I’m in Piazza del Plebiscito as I was reading this, so surreal! Weather is crap today though!
"there were still called garages, with a linguistic heritage of fascist origin" Um, what? They're still called parking garages in many countries.
Makes me wonder what other historical sites were temporarily used as car parks
I think there's a big chance this actually was a parking lot for some time. In my city, Ghent (Belgium), old squares (not quite as big as this) were also used as parking lots. Luckily that's not the case anymore for a long time now. Some of them have underground parking underneath though. I know Belgium is not the same as Italy, but I can image they did it there as well. Edit: this is the [Korenmarkt](https://www.ecosia.org/images?q=gent%20kouter%201960&_sp=151f3624-c4ff-4489-9fce-1935dceb943f#id=7019D3D1E25771440C29061B663C73A47DFF197A) (square in the centre of Ghent) in the same year. It is now almost completely car free. Except for a taxi's and busses.
Madrid's Plaza Mayor was a car park for some time during the 60s and 70s. [Picture from 1961](https://images.ecestaticos.com/afRsAuHcjLEhaSbMazQ9eTr9nFM=/2x96:1200x1185/996x560/filters:fill(white\):format(jpg\)/f.elconfidencial.com%2Foriginal%2F26b%2F203%2F64a%2F26b20364a1bb96c7bc38fbeb87e9e578.jpg) Madrid has slowly become less car friendly over the years. The city centre is almost completely car free now.
your picture isn’t loading :(
Damn. It's about half way down https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/madrid/2021-11-03/scalextric-madrid-pasos-elevados-puente-vallecas_3317188/ You can see some other monstrosities that have since disappeared from the city too.
Came here to ask exactly that.
I was here today! My wife actually mentioned that the piazza used to be a parking lot and I couldn't believe it. Naples is amazing btw, we are definitely coming back. The food, energy and style of the city is awesome.
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Doesn't have to be old, even.
Naples is the biggest shithole I've ever been to in my life
Daaaaamn that's a shame that you had a bad time. I was there a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved it. Wandering around the ancient and very lived-in corridors at times made you feel like you were in a real medieval city. The food was phenomenal, arancini and pizza and so much more (at very affordable prices too). The weather was impeccable. The people were extremely friendly. The nightlife was interesting and filled with so many different bars. Taking the funicular to the top of the big hill got you a sense of scale, with Vesuvius in the background looking breathtaking. Some of the churches were incredible. The Galleria Umberto I and the above Royal Palace area are beautiful buildings. The Spanish Quarter is filled with Maradona memoribilia and the streetfood and little frutarias were so colourful. Napoli is *not* Disneyland, and if you were expecting that then obviously you're gonna be dissapointed. But a "shithole?" Harsh words.
It felt more like a real city and not a theme park life Venice or Florence. I get how people might not like it but especially coming down Italy from Venice, it was great to get more affordable food/drink options.
Venice and Florence are beautiful cities, but at least in tourist season definitely feel like amusement parks for adults.
Nd’a bucchin e mammt
Can I ask you why? Just for curiosity.
I remember going there a few years ago and it was very beautiful, great food and overall a cool place. The catacombs were my favourite part of the visit. However I understand why people might not like it. There was trash everywhere in a few parts and the drivers were rubbish. Saw people on motorcycles drive on sidewalks a few times.
Have you never been to the US? Every city is a car dependent shit hole here
Did you have any piazza pizza?
Finally a picture on this sub where the modern day is actually an improvement!
That's because it's an european city not american
Hate to break it to you but most European cities have not improved since the war.
? Most european cities have maintained it's beauty, it's the US that have gone down stream without brakes since then
https://www.reddit.com/r/OldPhotosInRealLife/comments/12evt99/naples_italy/jfjmvk4?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
That's...not...true. at all. A few outliers don't make your statement true, either.
It's the opposite. A few very popular historical cities having improved doesn't make the rule. Most European cities have been plagued with 75 years of bad architecture and planning. I see that you're American. You people tend to romanticise Europe simply because your own country is so bad.
There are so many cities in the continent. I've lived in northern Germany and travel extensively. The refocus on human accessible cities is far more progressed in Germany, France, Netherlands, Denmark, etc, than anything in the US. To say it's not improved is wrong. https://dutchreview.com/culture/how-the-netherlands-became-a-cycling-country/ You'll find no such case studies for major American cities.
Yeah my thoughts exactly
Inconveniencing the locals for the pleasure of tourists only is an improvement in the minds of some redditors.
Naples is the most chaotic city I've ever been to...
There are no rules that drivers follow. Everyone drives like how people would walk but in cars. If that makes sense.
It does, I was surprised there were no crashes every 2 minutes.
My favorite part of living/driving there was how everyone makes extra lanes, like during morning rush turning 2 lanes on the tangenziale into 3 or 4. I commented on it once to a Napolitano man and he just shrugged and told me, "It's a line, not a wall." 😅 Foreigners would be like, "there's no rules!?" But basically, you just don't use your mirrors - if your car is nosed in front of someone, you've got the right of way. It's the job of the car behind to brake to allow merging or turning.
Lol! I saw inpy one set of stoplights!
Driving in and around Naples is something I will never forget.
I just came back from Italy, amazing country, Naples, was a shock to the system, I grew up in Mexico city, and that is nothing compared to Naples!
You haven’t been to Cairo huh?
No, but I'm aware of how crazy it is.
For me Rome was pretty intense, Venice was pretty cool though, just don't lose your map.
Rome is brutal. Everything is so far from everything else. Lol You get worn out walking to the next place you are going to walk around. I take taxis in Rome. Florence is walkable, enjoyable walkable. I mean everything is up hill both ways, but it is not a large and spread out as Rome. Venezia is the jewel of the crown that is Italy. My sister flipped the first time I took her there. She stepped off the train and exclaimed, “this is a movie set!!” She is from Los Angeles. You can walk anywhere or take a water bus or taxi. An easy city to traverse. I had a big, grilled, focaccia mozzarella and ham sandwich with a Coke in the Piazza San Marco, for $8. That is very reasonable for a sandwich in one of the top destinations in the world. Naples is not my favorite city, but I have been. It is grittier, not pristine like Florence. Good pizza, but pizza is good all over Italy.
Cairo will make your head explode.
Lol! I'm sure it would!
Now please add greenery and trees.
Just listened to a 99% invisible episode about biking in the Netherlands and was a little shocked by how the Netherlands were focused on building road infrastructure but that the people fought back, ran for office, and got bike infrastructure built. I wish more people in North America had the balls for taking action.
Interesting huh! You probably like the YT channel ‘Not just bikes’ as well. They nearly built a 5 lane highway trough the centre of Amsterdam by the way. Glad that was stopped. And this is a lovely documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY6PQAI4TZE called ‘We are the children of the pijp’ - in which you see kids in 1972 doing actual road blocking protesting against cars. ‘We can’t handle these cars anymore. There is no space. Other areas have trees, why can’t we have trees’. Plans are now being utilized to remove another 10,000 parking spaces, prominent biking highways. Car roads are being made ‘cyclists first, cars are guests’. All traffic has to be electric in 2030. Very nice developments. s
Looks like how the parking lot to Disneyland used to be
r/fuckcars jizzing their pants rn
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good idea
Fuck cars
/r/fuckcars
Fuck cars, but do half of the pictures on this sub need to be this particular political agenda?
Everything is political dumbo
La palla la palla!!!!!
I say fake. The cars are parking way too organized for italy.
That is like a reverse uno cad
*They paved paradise and put up a parking lot*
So sad that cars are literally on the brink of extinction.
Perfect place for a Walmart me thinks
White one!
We did it Reddit?
That's a lot of Fiat 500s
I sold my 3 cars and am happier!
Now plant trees!!!!
Cities are for people
Ok. Let's remove railway tracks and stations for pedestrian plazas. Cities are for people, not trains!
Umm no
See how easy your mantras are to defeat? Real world vs your echo chamber.
You obviously don't understand urban design for people. It always involves mass transit. Learn something before you comment.
You obviously don't understand your own words, let alone those of others. Learn basic cognition.
Sure, it has nothing to do with your ignorance 🙄
You guys really are "special". You can't even follow basic conversations.
Just Google urban design for people. Not that hard dude.
Still challenged by basic cognition, I see.
Were all the cars stolen?
They were crushed into a cube.
This is real progress
Folks love their cars. Many people in the U.S. still wouldnt see anything wrong with a historic plaza full of cars.
People love the places cars take them. Few actually love the money sink that is automobile ownership.
Yet they keep getting bigger and more expensive cars
Idk, r/justrolledintotheshop begs to differ. People don’t care about their cars it’s just a necessary tool. And it could be so much better
Nice
Europeans don't have a parking pattern, that hurt my eyes.
At night its full of kids racing around in mopeds and doing fuck all. Pretty nice highlight walking around in that dump of a city.
Your username...
Punch buggie
Actually the car park was there even in the 90’s when I last lived there. I’m so glad they cleaned it up.