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Pozzuoli, Italy the Resort of the Roman Empire Is Back?

Pozzuoli, Italy the Resort of the Roman Empire Is Back?

DECEMBER 2014 | PRICE€300

IN FOCUS: , THE RESORT OF THE IS BACK?

Themis Trakas Associate Director

Ezio Poinelli Director

HVS.com HVS MILAN | c/o Hemera Ventures, Blend Tower, 7, Piazza 4 Novembre, I‐20124 Milan, Italy

Overview

Pozzuoli is an ancient seaside town west of , covering an area of 43 km² with a population of about 83,000 people. The city boasts a very rich history since its establishment as a Greek colony prior to 194 BC and is the second most important city in Italy after in terms of volume of ancient ruins.

The town, situated on a rocky promontory jutting into the bay between and , is today the most important centre of Campi Flegrei. The favourable geographical position, the historical tradition of spa and bathing, and the presence of ancient Roman and medieval monuments all combine to render Pozzuoli an important tourist and commercial centre. Pozzuoli and the Campi Flegrei area are a vast natural thermal basin, even bigger than , very well known in the past and competing with major thermal destinations in Italy. Pozzuoli has been on the map as a high‐end destination from the Roman times through the Middle Age until the early 900s.

In the last two centuries (from late 1800s), the area has seen an important growth in industrial activities: initially with heavy industrial plants such as Armstrong‐Breda, Italsider and Sofar, and later with niche and high‐tech production – Prismian‐Pirelli, Alenia, Olivetti‐CNR. After the Second World War, the tourism sector (thermal, spa, hotels, etc.) that was flourishing like other destinations in ( and ) has been progressively overwhelmed by the industrial activity.

Only in the last 20‐25 years, after the dismissal and dismantle of the heavy industrial activity and its replacement with the high‐tech sector activities, tourism has started recovering and the touristic vocation of the area has been rediscovered. Since then, the Public Administration has promoted, implemented, and is still pushing for huge redevelopment and reconversion plans (public and private) in order to reposition the entire Campi Flegrei area and Pozzuoli on the tourist map as a high‐end destination, as it was in the ancient times, in the Middle Age and, again, in the nineteenth century and early 900s (Pozzuoli was one the main destinations of the Grand Tour, where the European aristocracy and its great writers – including Goethe – found inspiration to rediscover the roots of human history). A Brief Historical Outline

In ancient history, few places in the Mediterranean Sea seem to have played a leading role such as the Campi Flegrei. This land has a terrible temper because of the countless eruptions from the earliest age that created a multitude of craters, between the Vesuvius and the mouth of Clanis ( ‐ Lago Patria). This landscape, formed by broken craters filled by the sea, lakes, land, and seawater, led the Greeks to name this area the "burning lands" (Campi Flegrei).

Here the Greeks found a great number of old myths, such as the buried by in its bowels, after the King of the Gods had won the rebellion in a fierce war that they used to consider the origin of the history of the last era

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of the world. The Greeks attributed also the earthquakes to the terrible shaking of the defeated ‐ but not conquered ‐ lying bodies. This was the forge of , the entrance of the and the swamp (Lake Fusaro), where the Cocytus and Pyriphlegethon (the rivers of Hades) feed the Lake Averno, where harboured. He was the famous dog with three heads and guardian of Hades. In the Campi Flegrei area, Ulysses and came to evoke the shadows of their beloved to find out their destiny with the rites of blood and the divine sparks. Always in this place the sirens, among which Partenope, used to wheel the sailors.

In Pozzuoli the Eubei founded the legendary Cuma, by the means of the Ecisti (leaders appointed by the people in order to colonize a new land), Megasthenes of Chalcis, and Ippocle of . They ruled our land and welcomed the refugees from Samos (the compatriots of Pythagoras) who came here to found Diciarchia (the city of the righteous) ‐ the first core founding of Pozzuoli ‐ to escape the cruel tyrant Polycrates. The alphabet (the alphabet Calcidico Cumano) was sourced from this place and nowadays the whole world is able to communicate through writing, speech, and thought (philosophia) thanks to its evolving.

In the Campi Flegrei Daedalus ‐ after he fled from ‐ had built the labyrinth where he laid aside the wings of his dead son Icarus, which was dedicated to . Because of his devotion to the Gods, Daedalus made available his architectural genius in order to build a big temple consecrating his son, on the sacred way of Cumae. The dominion was forever changing, continuously replacing old dominations with new ones ‐ from the Etruscans to the Samnites or to Cumani (Ca mpanian), up to the new rulers of the world: the Romans.

The latter ascribed to the Campi Flegrei – specifically to Pozzuoli – a dominant military and commercial role (classis micenensis), managing the entire traffic of goods from the East to Rome. For five centuries the function of Puteoli became determinant for the expansion of Rome. In the “ripa Puteolana” (the seaport) passed through the wheat from Sicily and Egypt; wine and olive oil from ; wool silk, carpets, and fabrics from Asia; timber from Africa; spices and pearls from Arabia and India; honey, sauces, and silver from Spain; , precious stones, and slaves from all over the ancient world.

With this trade also passed through the culture and religion. Pozzuoli was the largest port of the Roman Empire where the business communities of the Alexandrians, Syrians, Arab s, and Jews placed their agencies.

Statius (a Roman poet and literary man) said that Pozzuoli was the "coast which hosts the world". This was a cosmopolitan city with a thousand tongues and costumes, among which Greek and Egyptian (Serapis) sanctuaries, Nabateans (Dusares), the Semitic Baal of Heliopolis, Damascus ‐ the magna mater Pessinunte (Turkey) ‐ and Yahweh of Jews. In this last community lied the Christian message which testifies its spreading in the heart of the empire – Rome – that was St. Paul’s doing and his landing in Pozzuoli (AD 61).

Here flourished the large banks of Cluvio from Pozzuoli and Vestorio, the large families who ran international businesses, contractors of port taxes of the Red Sea that went up to Tepropane (now Ceylon), founding in Rome the first embassy of that kingdom during the time of Emperor Claudius. In this period flourished also technology: glass (the Odemira glass can be found in some museums in Prague and Lisbon), different versions of the Egyptian mix of sand, malachite, calcium carbonate and sodium, perfumes, metallurgical technology, and the medicine (litharge and ceruse). In Pozzuoli the emperor Caesar emerged from the bloody civil wars and promoted the city to the rank of "colony Julia Augusta". In the same place he found his true home and peace.

Every summer the "classiss alexandrina" used to carry to Pozzuoli 130,000 tons of wheat by means of 400 to 500 ships, which were less than half of what Rome could consume at that time. Furthermore, Augustus promised to the Pozzuoli residents free wheat.

Other than inspiring poets and writers, such as and in ancient times, the area was a source of inspiration in the Middle Age for authors such as Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio and in the nineteenth century it became one the main destinations of the Grand Tour, where the European aristocracy and its great writers – including Goethe – found inspiration to rediscover the roots of human history. The bibliography is rich not only for its literary heritage but pictorial (Giacinto Diano), musical (Sacchini, Pergolesi), and artistic (Rocco Barocco, Sofia Loren) as well.

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Access

Pozzu oli is e asily reached by:

1. Air through the nearest airport which is Naples Capodichino International, about 18 km to the east of the town and about 30 minutes by car depending on traffic; 2. Road through Highway A56 from Naples; 3. Boat through the town’s seaport that offers ferry boat service to nearby islands and Naples, and 4. Train from Naples, on , and by the trains of "Cumana" lines leaving from the station of Montesanto, in the city centre. Drivers of Tourism Demand

The town’s sea, paired with the volcanic and bradyseismic phenomena of its soil, merge into a blend of history and modernism between cultural and natural riches, giving Pozzuoli a unique charm with numerous places to visit.

The primary drivers of tourism demand are:

• The , also known as the Temple of Serapis or , is considered the town's symbol. The "temple" was actually a marketplace. Its name derives from the misinterpretation of its funct ion after a statue of the god Serapis was found in 1750 at this lo ca tion. • The Flavian Amphitheatre (Amphitheatrum Flavium), the third largest Italian amphitheatre after the and the Capuan Amphitheatre. • The is a volcanic crater with active . • The Sanctuary of San Gennaro (St. ). With the Cathedral of Naples, it is one of the two places in which the alleged miracle of the liquefaction of the saint's blood occurs. • Lake , in which Virgil, in the 6th book of his , placed the entrance to Hell. The name derives from Greek, and means "Without Birds", referring to the absence of birds due to the sulfur gas that sprung from it. • The Temple of Apollo, the Grotto of the Cumaean Sibyl, and Cocceius' Grotto, a gallery carved by the Romans to connect Lucrino to Cumae. • The town offers many beaches for swimming towards its east side from the seaport up to Bagnoli and towards its west‐southwest side up to and around Capo Miseno. • Lake Lucrino, which was considered an infernal place, due to volcanic phenomena. It was a renowned resort in Roman times and included the villa of Cicero, which later held the remains of Emperor . • The Archaeological Park of Baia is among the most interesting sites for diving somewhere 'special' as those where there are ancient ruins, relics of the great wars, and even works of art. It was recently placed in the U.S. site Travel & Leisure favourably described because of its features: coral reefs, colourful species of fish, the thrill of close‐but‐safe meetings with sharks, the overall attractions that are not only the work of Mother Nature but also bear the signature of man. The Archaeological Park of Baia represents a walk in a sort of submerged . Also accessible with diving low difficulty, the area includes the remains of an entire spa complex, the Villa dei Pisoni of the first century BC, and the villa porch with its of black and white tiles. • The is the old town of Pozzuoli located on a small hill overlooking the port of the town. It features a near‐perfectly preserved underground archaeological trail with many ancient roman ruins, providing a view of how the district was some 2,000 years ago. After experiencing bradyseismic activity in the 1970s and 1980s, it is currently being renovated and is closed to public access. Details of that restoration project are provided at the end of this section of the report.

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• Access to Ischia, , and islands is also available from the town seaport with ferry boat service. • The Amalfi coast is accessible as “next door” site by boat or by road. • at 50 km and at 130 km complete the “cultural offer” in the surroundings. • Business tourism is also evident in Pozzuoli through the existence of: (a) research centres such as that of Alenia Aermacchi in the Pomigliano d'Arco area in the and (b) the Italian Air Force Academy, located on a purpose‐built hilltop campus overlooking the bay, near the Bagnoli region. Analysis of Hotel Supply

The current hotel market in Pozzuoli does not offer any 5‐star units or luxury/boutique hotels, while its 4‐star hotel supply features the following units:

• Hotel Gli Dei: modern‐style unit with 36 rooms, one restaurant, one bar, three meeting rooms with a capacity of 8 to 550 people, and swimming pool, located near the Solfatara Volcano with great views towards the bay. • Agave Hotel Residence Inn: contemporary style unit set on the slopes of Monte Russo near Lake Averno with 28 rooms, one restaurant, swimming pool, and one modular multi‐purpose congress/meeting hall. • Hotel Villa Luisa: hotel and residence unit near Lake Lucrino with 37 rooms, spa centre, and a tea room. • Suites & Residences Hotel: modern style unit, located between Highway A56 and Via Solfatara with great views towards the bay, featuring 48 rooms, one restaurant, and one bar. Future hotel supply includes about 200 new rooms in the area of the old town of Pozzuoli (Rione Terra) – currently under renovation works – as well as about 320 new rooms as part of the Pozzuoli Waterfront Renovation Project. These 500+ new hotel rooms are expected to enter the market in the next 2‐4 years from 2015 onwards and are expected to primarily be four‐star lodging facilities.

Tourism Infrastructure Developments

Up to to day, the following reconstruction projects have been approved:

1. Programma Piu’ Europa for approximately €30 million towards reconversion projects. Six out of eight projects have been approved and are in the bidding process.

2. Campi Flegrei Lakes restyling: €65 million from the European Union have been approved and are in the bidding process (an amount greater than €25 million has been allocated for Pozzuoli Lakes Averno and Lucrino).

The following paragraphs describe the most important infrastructure projects for Pozzuoli.

The Rione Terra renovation project is currently underway and financed with European funds. It represents the restoration of the old town of Pozzuoli and its historical buildings as well as that of the underground archaeological trail with many ancient roman ruins, the longest in the world. Up to today, some €110 million have been spent. The entire area is currently closed for public access and it is expected to be completed sometime in the next 2‐3 years.

The Bagnoli damage restoration project is also in effect in the area of the Bagnoli industrial site, located in the eastern area of the Pozzuoli Gulf (, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) between Island and Bagnoli town, along the Coroglio‐Bagnoli beach. The activity of an important steel plant, which lasted nearly one century, had a heavy impact on the Bagnoli coastal marine environment. Industrial production started in 1905 and ceased in 1990. The most important aspect of the project may be defined as the "geographic reassembling" of the Bagnoli site, as it aims to recover both the natural and social environment. The process of territorial innovation is an

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interpretation of the projections on the territory of the reconstruction of the geographic factors of an area that has been re‐evaluated thanks to its urban integration potential with the extended metropolitan area of Naples. Therefore, the aim is to realise a development site bordered by the beach and a park where the entire community (citizens, tourists, curious guests and visitors) will find a space for leisure activities, sport, culture, and nature, where space, roles and functions can be continuously adapted according to different and changing needs.

The most important infrastructure development to take place in Pozzuoli is the complete renovation of its waterfront, which commenced in late 2013 – early 2014 and last 3‐4 years.

The objective of the project is to recapture the relationship with the sea and with the submerged ancient city, combined with: (a) the introduction of the tourist facilities of high environmental quality and management, (b) the expansion of the port and the optimization network access to archaeological and cultural heritage, and (c) the completion of the recovery of the historical centre. All these are envisaged to help develop and consolidate over time the visibility and popularity of Pozzuoli in the international tourism market.

Currently, the waterfront is filled with old industrial buildings in obsolete state. The renovation plan to take place involves a 165,000 m² site that will eventually incorporate new hotels and residences, shopping venues, cultural and aquatic resources, and a re‐fashioned marina with some 600 new berths being added to the existing 200 berths, plus a yacht club and an international sailing academy. A new dock for the ferry boats is also expected to be present. The entire site will be eventually connected via a double tunnel to motorway A56 that leads to Naples.

Current Image of Old Industrial Area Future Image of Pozzuoli Waterfront

The plan is expected to take into account factors such as Pozzuoli’s shifting volcanic ground, changing shorelines, and Roman ruins. Its cost is about €1.5 billion with €550 million in its first phase.

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Future Image of Pozzuoli Marina

Finally, the railway tracks and road immediately in front of the Temple of Serapis are expected to be relocated elsewhere as part of a railway relocation project expected to have commenced in late 2012. This relocation project is part of the €100 million continuously‐ refinanced Seaport – Highway A56 connection project.

Last but not least, there has been recent strong interest from the film industry towards including Pozzuoli to be the set for upcoming productions by well‐known film producers, as it was in the past (noteworthy to say, Pozzuoli is the place where Sophia Loren, the famous Italian actress, was born and grew‐up). Conclusion

It is envisaged that once all these infrastructure projects are completed, Pozzuoli is anticipated to position itself on the map as a high‐end tourist destination, benefiting from the capacity to attract more international visitors and even redirecting visitation from other significant nearby tourist poles within the Campania region, such as Pompei, the Amalfi Coast, the Gulf of Sorrento, Capri, Ischia, and Naples.

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About HVS About the Authors

HVS is the world’s leading consulting and services organization Trakas is an focused on the hotel, mixed‐use, shared ownership, gaming, and Associate Director with HVS . He joined leisure industries. Established in 1980, the company performs 4,500+ HVS in 2006 having ten assignments each year for hotel and real estate owners, operators, years of operational and developers worldwide. HVS principals are regarded as the experience in the leading experts in their respective regions of the globe. Through a hospitality industry in Greece, Switzerland, and network of more than 30 offices and 450 professionals, HVS provides the United States. He an unparalleled range of complementary services for the hospitality holds an MBA in industry. HVS.com. Accounting from Baruch College in New York and a Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Administration from Cornell Superior results through unrivalled hospitality intelligence. University. Since joining HVS, he has completed Everywhere. numerous feasibility studies, valuations, and market research analyses throughout Greece, Italy, Morocco, Cyprus, Turkey, and Malta. He can be HVS MILAN, established in July 2012, offers a wide range of expert contacted at [email protected] or +30 (210) 361‐ consulting services for hotels, resorts, serviced apartments and 2085. mixed‐use developments for leading hotel companies, banks, and Ezio Poinelli is the hotel development and investment groups. Our consultants have Director of HVS Milan. advanced degrees in hotel management and real estate, possess He has more than 17 hotel operating experience, and provide deep knowledge of the years experience in industry in order to assist hotel owners, operators, architects, Hospitality, Real investors, and developers with feasibility studies, valuations, Estate, and Leisure Real Estate markets in strategic and branding advisory, transaction advisory, operator Europe, Caribbean, search, asset management services, and market research and Latin America, and demand analysis. South Africa. He joined HVS in 2010 having significant experience in senior positions at Northcourse Advisory Services, at Compañia de Las Islas Occidentales and at Ernst & Young. He is a graduate in Economics and Business Administration and holds a M.Sc. in Tourism Economics from Bocconi University. Contact him at [email protected] or +39 335 123‐0537.

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