The Most Beautiful Subway Station in the World

Stendhal made it clear in one of his travel notes: "I will never forget Via Toledo or all the other neighborhoods in Naples." Little did the author, most attuned to beauty, imagine that centuries later, beneath that very street that left such an impression on him, a unique visual spectacle would unfold, surely capable of heightening his syndrome.

The Toledo station literally embodies the definition of underground art in this chaotic yet beautiful Italian city. This stop on Line 1 of the subway is an authentic museum 50 meters deep. It is no wonder that the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph recently crowned it as "the most beautiful station in the world."

Inaugurated in 2012, it serves as one of the entrances to the Spanish Quarters (Quartieri Spagnoli), the most popular district, where the authentic essence of Naples is condensed: laundry hanging out to dry, winding streets, anarchic scooters... all very neorealistic, like a film from the 1950s.

Underground, however, everything suddenly changes. No noise, no chaos, and in exchange, a torrent of ingenuity, an explosion of art. Starting with the Montecalvario exit, with a huge crater that connects the street level with a hall leading into the depths. Here, illuminated by natural light pouring in from the skylight, the passerby is greeted by a marine landscape made up of thousands of Bisazza mosaics adorning the walls in a gradient of blues. A design by Spanish architect Oscar Tusquets Blanca, conceived as a representation of the movement of the sea, reflecting the patterns made during the excavations. Moreover, it integrates perfectly with the remains of a wall from the Aragonese period that were also found underground.

But if descending the escalators feels like diving to the ocean's depths, accessing the subway through its second entrance is equally rewarding. Here we find Engiadina, a gigantic ceramic panel by Francesco Clemente, and just a few steps further the colorful work The Flight, created by the husband-and-wife duo Ilya and Emilia Kabakov.

Toledo is not the only station in the city with special design. It is actually part of the Art Stations program, commissioned to renowned architects both local and international. While at Vanvitelli we encounter the neon lights of Mario Merz, at Dante, we are surprised by a haunting installation of shoes by Jannis Kounellis. Not to mention the Municipio station, illuminated by Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura, which includes its own museum. Is there a more beautiful and stimulating way to begin the journey to work?