The Art Stations project, conceived in 1995 by art critic Achille Bonito Oliva, has been for over twenty years one of the main driving forces of Neapolitan urban space regeneration, as well as one of the most significant examples of architecture and public art ever accomplished in a city underground system. Within this ambitious project of transformation of Neapolitan mobility, the new San Pasquale station of Line 6 in Riviera di Chiaia - built by Webuild in consortium with Moccia Irme on behalf of Naples’s municipality - forms a further step in the construction of a prestigious public collection of contemporary art.
 

Designed by the Italian-Slovenian architect Boris Podrecca in alignment with the identity of the intervention site, the line was built to evoke a slow descendant into the sea, resembling an old sunken ship resting on the seabed. A metal mesh that takes the shape of a sail, the use of reinforced concrete and Corten steel for the walls that line the central part of the station contribute to enacting the idea of a sunken vessel, while the blue-coloured panels by the Austrian artist Peter Kogler simulate the movement of sea waves.

The construction of Podrecca’s underground station also offered the opportunity to upgrade Largo Pignatelli, turning it from a car park into a meeting place for citizens and tourists, thanks to the planting of new trees, the placement of benches and the creation of a welcoming pedestrian area.