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The way the modern port is laid out owes much to the wave of Angevin construction which began in 1300 with the Maschio Angioino castle. The Angevins were the ones who put a main pier where it still is today, directly east of their castle, to complement the older smaller San Vincenzo pier to the west. They also located the large Arsenale (naval ship yard) immediately to the west of that San Vincenzo pier, still seen in this painting from 1700. That ship yard has since disappeared and, obviously, subsequent construction and renovation over the centuries has wrought great changes to the port area; yet, much of it is still recognizable. |
Paintings from the period of the Grand Tour often included the Naples lighthouse. This version by Carlo Bonavia is from 1757. Some form of lighthouse stood on that spot from1487 to the 1930s. (See first photo, below.) |
In control of visible and invisible dangers, in convivial serenity with the infinity of seas and skies, superbly coordinating the movements of ships, planets and waves, lighthouses are superbly lonesome and solitary, yet still an intrinsically integrated part of a meaningful, all-encompassing order. Lighthouses inhabit natural and metaphysical landscapes like compassionate hermits...
*note: The "focal plane" is an imaginary line drawn straight out from the middle of the optic (lens). The height of the focal plane is measured from the surface of the water and not from the base of the lighthouse. |
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The Old
Lighthouse
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Port of Naples |
← This lighthouse is on the San Vincenzo pier extension at the western side of the entrance to the port of Naples, opposite the lighthouse shown directly below. Focal plane 15 m (49 ft); red flash every 3 seconds. The adjacent statue of San Gennaro is one of the icons of the city. |
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The Thaon di Revel lighthouse
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Cape Miseno ![]() |
← The station was established in 1869. The original lighthouse was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt in 1954. Focal plane 80 m (262 ft); two white flashes every 10 seconds. Capo Miseno is a tall headland that marks the western end of the gulf. Mythologically, the cape overlooks the waters where Aeneas' comrade, Misenus, master of the sea-horn—the conch-shell—made "the waves ring" with his music and challenged the sea-god Triton to musical battle. |
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Punta Campanella
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Capri ![]() |
← At Punta Carena, the SW tip of the island of Capri. Built in 1866. Focal plane: 73 meters (240 ft). It is one of the most important on the Italian coasts as to number of passing ships that rely on it. Rotating lamp w/3-sec. period seen from 25 nautical miles/46 km. |
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Port of Ischia (Molo Bagno) ![]() |
Licosa![]() |
← South of Naples but still in Campania, the isle of Licosa is just off Cape Licosa at the southern end of the gulf of Salerno. The structure is from 1951. Focal plane 13 m (43 ft); two white flashes every 10 s. The cape, isle and adjacent waters are part of the Cilento and Valle di Diano national park. |
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Sapri ![]() |
Baia (Fortino Tenaglia)![]() |
←Station established in 1856. Focal plane 13 m (43 ft); red light, 2 s on, 2 s off. 8 m (26 ft) round, red concrete tower with lantern and gallery. The station is directly below the massive Baia castle on a small island joined to the mainland by a sandbar. |
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Nisida![]() |
Nisida (2) ![]() |
← The station was established in 1841 and claimed to be the first modern lighthouse (meaning with a Fresnel lens—see text, above) in Italy. The round masonry tower is 10 m (33 ft) high and is attached to a small keeper's house. It is now inactive, but there is an active post light (focal plane 14 m/46 ft) that flashes green every 3 seconds. |
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Photo by W.C. Henderson |
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Ischia, Punta Imperatore ![]() Update, Jan 2016. This is for sale!
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The lighthouse at Emperor Point on Ischia is important. The lighthouse is on the SW coast of the island of Ischia near the town of Panza. The station is from 1884, the building from 1916. Focal plane 164 m (538 ft); two white flashes every 15 s. 13 m (43 ft) round cylindrical masonry tower attached to the seaward side of a 2-story masonry keeper's house. Lighthouse painted white; lantern dome is gray metallic. It is the light on the port side of the approach to Naples from the SW, about 35 Km (20 nautical miles) from the lighthouse at Punta Carena on Capri (#6 on this list, above) on your starboard side, (unless you are in a rowboat and coming in backwards, in which case you are really on your own, pal!). The lighthouse is known for the fact that it had a woman lighthouse keeper, Lucia Capuano, who took over the lonely task when her husband died in 1937. |
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Ventotene
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Capo d'Orso (Maiori)
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←(As of Jan 2016-for sale) |
—*note: Alexandria lighthouse. The chances are good that it did look something like this. The image looks almost exactly like the Tower of Hercules in north-western Spain; that one is an ancient Roman lighthouse, restored, still in working order, and said to be modeled on the Alexandria lighthouse because it used to be called the Farum Brigantium, from the Greek pharos, the name of the island where the Greek lighthouse stood. The Tower of Hercules is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. ^up
sources:
—Cirillo, Ornella. Illuminare le coste: i fari del golfo di Napoli nel XIX secolo [Illuminating the Coasts: Lighthouses in the Gulf of Naples in the 19th Century] from the website of the Italian Association of the History of Engineering. Not dated.
—Colombo, Antonio. "I Porti e gli Arsenali di Napoli" [The Ports and Shipyards of Naples] in Napoli Nobilissima, year 3, series in issues 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9. 1894.
—Spadetta, Pietro. "La Laterna del Molo" [the Pier Lantern] in Napoli Nobilissima, year 1, issue 7, pp. 109-111. 1892.
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