Preliminary Design Document

1. Initial situation
2. General objectives to be pursued and strategies to achieve them
3. Description of requirements and needs to be met
4. Technical regulations and standards
5. Law restrictions concerning the context where the works are envisaged
6. Purposes to be served
7. Technical requirements to be met
8. Impact of the work on the environmental components
9. Design levels and graphic and explanatory printouts to be drawn up
10. Financial limits not to be exceeded, estimate of costs, sources of finance
11. Design time schedule
12. Construction system
13. Instruments of territorial planning
14. The geological characterization of the area

- Historical outline: Striano

The area provided for the construction of the new station is located in the crossing between the Circumvesuviana railway and the High-Speed railway line Monte del Vesuvio. The area is situated outside the boundary which the PRG (General Planning Scheme) defines - in accordance with the new highway code - as eminently urban areas; in a zone of settlements dotted with sparse buildings, frequently isolated. This area is delimited to the south by the boundary of the Municipality of Poggiomarino and is included in a zone for which the PRG provides its destination of use as E Zone. The E Zone (Agricultural destination) includes all non-building areas of the municipal territory destined for agricultural, horticultural, floricultural and similar activities. The E Zone is divided into E1 Sub-zone (regular agricultural zone, made up mainly by orchards and/or hazel groves and sown grounds in non-urbanized area) and E2 Sub-zone (valuable agricultural zone, made up mainly by well-irrigated sown grounds, with valuable crops and market gardens for cyclic intensive production, in non-urbanized area).

Along the new railway line - which crosses transversely the E zone, located south-west of the inhabited area - a 30m. buffer zone from the railway track is envisaged. In it, new buildings are not allowed; while pedestrian cycle paths, roads and public car parks are permitted. In any case, in order to define the buffer zones, the PRG refers to the New Highway Code (Legislative Decree n° 285/92 and subsequent amendments and riders), which at any rate overrides planning regulations for all of the Uniform Zones.


The area concerned by the construction of the new interchange station Vesuvio Est is situated in correspondence with the junction (overpass) between the railway line Monte del Vesuvio at Km 26+118 and the Circumvesuviana Napoli-Ottaviano-Sarno railway line, in correspondence with Km 32+350. It is also close by Poggiomarino station (Province of Napoli) and Sarno station (Province of Salerno), and in barycentric position regarding the current infrastructural system and the consequent organization of territory. Besides, it is near the Circumvesuviana Napoli-Ottaviano-Sarno railway, south-east the Municipality of Striano.



At present, the railway line Monte del Vesuvio is completed unless the extension of the construction of priority tracks has not been achieved and there is only the design by the RFI Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Italian Railway Network). The same with regard to underpass or overpass works of the High-Speed and the Circumvesuviana lines, which may envisage pedestrian paths linking the two railway lines.

As to the Circumvesuviana Napoli-Ottaviano-Sarno line, currently it is a double track railway up to Cercola station, and a single track railway up to Sarno. Poggiomarino station has a station plan made up by three priority tracks and two cut-off tracks, while Striano station has only one priority track. The layout of these station plans and the basic layout of the intersection of the Circumvesuviana line and the line Monte del Vesuvio follows in the picture



At present, general works aiming at doubling the Circumvesuviana Napoli-Ottaviano-Sarno line are not to be expected. However, we point out that the overpass building of the Circumvesuviana railway could already allow the construction of a priority track, if necessary, in correspondence with the interchange station.

The main road links, again in the area surrounding the design area, consist mainly of the A30 - to which a connection is possible through the junction of Sarno - and the SP 106 (Provincial Road of Striano Sarno). The other main road links are the SP 84 (Provincial Road of Striano/Poggiomarino and the SP 267 (Provincial Road of Pataffio), while the minor road system is made up by a thick net of municipal, local and farm roads, whose function is to link the scattered houses, the small built-up areas and the larger inhabited centres which are not crossed by large roads to the main road system.

From this perspective, the construction of the Vesuvion Est Station necessarily involves the renewal and the adaptation of the current road system, which has to be integrated with some limited construction works of new main roads. These works require a strict protection and enhancement of both features and functions of the existing road system.

From the point of view of public transport, the design area is characterized by:

• lacking of public road transport;
• Presence of public railway transport which is not linked to the public road transport, in fact, the area does not benefit from the presence of the Circumvesuviana Torre Annunziata-Poggiomarino and Napoli-Ottaviano-Sarno railways.

The design shall envisage the development of the station in 3 functional stages:

The first stage, coinciding with the activation of the station - time horizon 2015 - shall envisage an area of about 3,000 sq. m. gross floor space (s.l.p.), excluding platform level, considering a flow of 3,000 users per day, with a maximum peak of 450 users per hour.

The second stage - time horizon 2020 - shall envisage a possible extension of the surfaces up to about 6,500 sq. m.

The third stage - time horizon 2030 - shall provide a further development of the station and an icrease in the total surface up to a maximum of 8,000 sq. m.

Furthermore, the design shall envisage that the first functional stage, including the underpass (subway), be achieved in a maximum of 2 years and, in any case, not before the completion of the works concerning the rail level, including the platforms.

The above-mentioned space of time is to be considered for the mere construction, i.e. net of the time concerning the working plan and its consequent approval.

The design shall envisage the shelters for the platforms.

The station shall be destined to serve users of the whole railway traffic merging the junction, both on regional and national level.

The body of the station shall be structured into four interdependent systems:

• the “High-Speed train system”
• the “traveller service system”, ticketing, information, cafes,…;
• the “secondary urban service system”, a mix of public utility facilities, buffet service and shopping;
• the “urban public transport system”, the Circumvesuviana station situated inside the Vesuvio Est station.

The construction of the station is the precondition to increase the accessibility of nocerino-sarnese plain and especially of some major tourist centres, namely the Parco del Vesuvio (Vesuvio Park), the tourist and archeological centre of Pompei, the Sorrento coast. Besides, the railway junction and the station in question could be, after the construction of dedicated lines, the access to the main High-Speed network for the city and the province of Avellino.

Therefore, the new station, besides creating an integration of local and national railway network, is consistent with the Region of Campania’s strategy, whose primary aim is the construction of the Regional Transit System, in which the whole of regional and urban railway networks and other public transportation systems shall make up a unique system through an effective interconnection among local junctions.

A “link road” uphill the line Monte del Vesuvio could serve both the traffic of goods - functioning as bypass, in order to divert traffic outside the urban area - and the traffic of passengers - as future southward extension of High-Speed railway. Furthermore, the “link road” would allow long-distance passenger trains from Napoli Centrale station to go on, without concerning the coast Napoli-Salerno coast railway, which would be destined to regional trains.


In the drawing up of the regulations of the design competition for the new interchange station, urban and architectural quality, and reduction of construction and management costs have been represented as primary needs of the Client.

Moreover, as stated before, the new station shall have to be designed in accordance with the new guide-lines issued by the Ferrovie dello Stato (Italian State Railway ) for medium-sized stations of the national network; and it shall be both a transport junction and a urban services centre.

The reference model shall envisage the construction of structures supplementing railway facilities and areas and facilities on the “urban scale” such as accommodation, business areas. The compresence of both structures closely related to train services (ticket offices, luggage, reception, access to trains, etc.), and structures destined to comfortable waiting areas (shopping centres, refreshment bars, etc.) shall be envisaged. Therefore, the new interchange station shall be functional and easy to be used by passengers, but also attractive and opened to the territory and to a wider range of customers, not strictly related to the railway range; it shall have high comfort and security levels and high quality services.


As to the dimensioning of the first functional stage, given the traffic data currently available, a passengers’ flow of 3,000 units per day, with a peak of 450 units in rush hours, is estimated.

A system of models to forecast the mobility demand examining two time horizons has been applied: time horizon 2020, when all the works envisaged by the Regional Transit (SMR) plan are supposed to be executed, and time horizon 2030, when all the effects of the new station on the regional public transport system are considered exhausted. According this forecast a daily passengers’ flow of about 9,000 units in 2020 and about 12,000 in 2030, are estimated in the Vesuvio Est station.

These data have been produced by taking into consideration a decisive factor, the one concerning the definition of the railway services envisaged by the design; with reference to the rush hours:

• two pairs per hour of regional train runs;
• two pairs per hour of High-Speed national service runs;
• four pairs per hour of the Circumvesuviana railway line runs, two of which on the Sarno-Ottaviano-Napoli (and vice versa) route, and the other two on the Sarno-Pompei-Napoli (and vice versa) route, have been considered.

In particular:

time horizon 2020 - out of total passengers getting on and off expected, which are about 9,150 (see table 1), about 750 will use the Circumvesuviana services only (about 8.2 % out of total); about 5,200 passengers (about 56.8 % out of total) shall use services delivered by the railway line Monte del Vesuvio only (Regional services and extra regional High-Speed services); and about 3,200 passengers (abut 35 % out of total) will use services delivered by both the railways (interchange between Circumvesuviana and railways line Monte del Vesuvio). About one third of travellers shall interchange between railway and railway, while two thirds will interchange between road and railway.



time horizon 2030 – Data concerning visitors regarding this time horizon indicate an increase in total passengers’ traffic (total daily getting on and off passengers) up to about 11,900 units (see table 2). Users of services delivered only by High-Speed railway are about 6,852 passengers per day (57.5% out of total); users of services delivered only by Circumvesuviana railway cover a small fraction of daily demand (976 passengers per day, equals to 8.2% out of total); while the number of passengers interchanging between the two railway lines is not negligible (4,087 passengers per day, equals to 34.3% out of total).



Such passengers’ flow is originated from/destined to a rather vast area (having influence on the station), which encloses the whole nocerino-sarnese plain and the Sorrento peninsula, where about 742,600 inhabitants reside. Considering the symmetry of displacements in the average day, we get that the catchments area issues a number of displacements which is the 0.8% of its population. Within this area (represented in figure 1) we can distinguish two different “sub-areas”, interested by different typologies of diplacements.



In the more inner area, defined “reduced” (represented in dark colour in the figure) and where about 192,000 inhabitants live, above all regional displacements - mainly going to Napoli and Salerno - are originated from/destined to. For these displacements, the introduction of the new station, rapid regional services on the High-Speed railway and the increase in services of the Circumvesuviana network, create, as a fact, a new and rapid alternative route to reach Napoli and Salerno and their respective conurbations. To these kind of displacements, also extra regional ones interested in long-distance services are to be added. In the more external area, defined “enlarged” (represented in light colour in the figure), where about 550,000 inhabitants reside, only long-distance displacements interested in extra regional High-Speed services are originated from/destined to.

Given the expectations regarding passengers’ traffic and modal distribution of access to and exit from the station, also the requirements for the car parking places has been estimated (as regards expectations for 2030). In particular, for long-time parking about 1,600 parking places are needed, while for short-time parking the number of parking places needed is about 80.

To the stalls for car parking, 6 tourist bus stalls have to be added. The new characteristics of the mobility demand for transit services for the Vesuvio Est (East) station are such that the implementation of local public road transport, with functions of distribution of users of railway facilities, has not been envisaged; as a consequence, parking stalls for bus service are not envisaged.

In the scenery of the design, since road services are not envisaged, the fraction of displacements interchanging the two High-Speed and Circumvesuviana railways lines - previously identified - also represent the modal portion of public transport in the distribution of total access/exit displacements regarding the Vesuvio Station (see table 3). As described in Chapter 4, transport modes considered in the model of modal choice are:

• Car (driver or passenger);
• Public transport;
• Car Park & Ride.

In the distribution analysis of daily displacements concerning the Vesuvio Est station, in any case we have to consider that only displacements totally interesting the public transport are “mono-modal”ones. Other displacements are "multimodal" ones, and a first part of them are carried out by car, with a further segmentation as regards Park & Ride or Kiss & Ride modes (users that are simply “driven” to the station). To the displacements from and to the station carried out by these three displacements modes, also the ones carried out by tourist buses have to be added.



As one can notice in table 3, a substantial equivalence between access/exit displacements carried out by public transport and by car (respectively 34.3% and 34.8% out of total) is envisaged; slightly lower (26.8%) is the share of car Kiss and Ride (passenger driven); to conclude, 4.1% is the share of displacements to/from Vesuvio Est station carried out with tourist buses.

By combining these two analyses we get a further segmentation of daily demand as regards both services of the two railway lines and the choice of access/exit modes (see table 4 and 5).





Given the demand of car or bus users for access/exit to/from the Vesuvio Est station, we can also calculate the dimensioning of parking by using an average coefficient of occupation equal to 1.3 passengers per vehicle for cars and 40 passengers per vehicle for buses, a requirement of 1.691 parking stalls is estimated, their distribution among the different “functions” is follows in table 6.



In all, 1.600 places for long-time parking and 85 for Kiss & Ride are envisaged, to which 6 tourist bus stalls have to be added.

• the works shall be executed taking the functionality of the traffic of trains into account, opting for building technologies and solutions leading to no interruptions and restrictions to the railway operation;
• the compliance with the configuration of the rail level: tracks, platforms, contact line, as described in the document, annex No10 to these Regulations;
• the compliance with the minimum distance from fixed obstacles in platforms 3,50 mt;
• the compliance with the maximum limit of the total gross floor space (slp) as per item 2.4.4 “functional requirements” of these Regulations;
• the compliance with the layout of the road system in the border with the access points to the concerned areas, as reported in annex No. 4 attached to these Regulations;
• to provide a subway for the transit between the two tracks of the High-Speed (AV) line.

• the preliminary plan shall refer to an infrastructure for a single track, along which a stopping area in line with only a platform shall be envisaged;
• a solution which afterwards allow to double the same railway with a wheelbase 3.30m far off the existing one and a second platform shall be envisaged;
• for safety reasons, it is not allowed to envisage either rail level crossings or subways; therefore, only an overpass may be envisaged for the transit;
• it is necessary to foresee, also in the sight of the optimization of the volumes and of the service lent, rooms for a railways stop (ticket selling, maintenance, entrance control system, systems and plans rooms, public toilettes), with access areas, conditioned by a checking system, functionally linked to the external ones (parking area) and to the railways.

1. Integration into the town. The building of the new station is located in the crossing of the High-Speed line Monte del Vesuvio railway at Km 26+118, and the Circumvesuviana Napoli-Ottaviano-Sarno at Km 32+350. In the crossing, the former overpasses the latter.
2. Quality and clarity of inside areas. Travellers and the other people attending the station shall move within pleasant, well-lit and modern areas. The routes shall be clear and direct. All the facilities shall be easily identifiable.
3. Dimensioning of the areas. All the areas, distribution concourses, mechanized circulation areas, shall be correctly dimensioned according to the crowding conditions expected. It is necessary to ensure the highest level of service to travellers and visitors during the whole day, with correct management of traffic peaks.
4. Flexibility. Flexibility of the areas shall be ensured and the station shall be capable of adapting to any changes in the demand for facilities.
5. Working of the different activities. The activities of the station and the services (deliveries, goods’ storage, waste disposal) shall be carried on efficiently, without any mutual conflicts and, as much as possible, without any flow mixture.
6. Intermodality. The easy and functional transition between the different transport modes shall be ensured.
7. Quality of traveller service. Location and functional organization of shoping areas shall ensure good conditions for their attendance.
8. Construction durability and reduction of operational costs. The design shall be realistic in the choice of construction technologies and materials, ensuring durability and low maintenance and management costs. It is not a question of limiting the boldness or the expressiveness of architectural proposals, but of ensuring efficient durability over time. Therefore, participants are recommended not to opt for short-lived architectural choices and perishable materials, both inside and outside the building. As far as possible, particular attention shall have to be paid to natural and artificial lighting of the areas, to acoustics, to air conditioning, if any, and to the choice of finishing materials, which shall take the people attending the facility into account. The design shall be aimed at reduced energy consumption and maintenance costs.

Thanks to the commitment of associations that for decades campaign for the full integration of the disabled in the social everyday life, according to this school of thought, people with problems can spend their lives and lightly reduce their handicap if they stay with the so-called normally intelligent people. This does not consist only in reducing, bringing down or removing architectural barriers or creating accessible areas and structures, but in conceiving the environment in service for everybody, including elderly people and people with reduced motor skills. The problem of “total” accessibility for some time has been tackled with a variety of structural and technological devices and with activities concerning the customer care service.

Researches show that, among the main needs of people with problems attending the station, there is the one of the access to entrances: accesses should be as much facilitated as possible. This means to have suitable parking, possibly sheltered ones and close to entrances, parking places for taxis which are sheltered from the bad weather and situated in functional places, short and equipped routes, an easily interpretable sign system, clear sound announcements, appropriate lighting and easy identifiable routes. Therefore, the design shall consider the requirements of all travellers, normally intelligent people or having any kind of physical and sensory disability, in any case referring to Presidential Decree No. 503/96 Regulations bearing rules to remove architectural barriers in public buildings, areas and services.

Four profiles of people with difficulties have been identified: people on two-wheels chairs, peoples with ambulation difficulties, hearing and sight impaired people (limited eyesight or sightless).

For these people attending the station, in order their autonomy and security be ensured, the design shall envisage routes that link all the main services each other inside the station.

Works for the benefit of people with motor disability, such as automatic doors, toilet facilities with adequate location, elevators in conformity with the law and contrivances aiming at the maximum usability, all of them does not come clearly into the sight of normal intelligent users. On the contrary, this happen for works dedicated to people with visual impairment, such as the installation of tactile routes and maps, which turn out useful also to normal intelligent users with cognitive difficulties.

Suitable call-for-aid systems shall be positioned in nerve centres of the station and near the facilities for the disabled. At the service of deaf-mutes, telephones equipped with a suitable reception/transmission system (telephone device for deaf-mutes) shall be installed.

In 1999, FS Ferrovie dello Stato, RFI Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Italian Railway Network), Trenitalia and the most representative disabled associations set talks on the accessibility in the facilities. As a consequence of the talks, the following design guide-lines edited by RFI were issued.


The design of the new interchange station and the complementary works shall be developed in compliance with technical regulations and standards set by the provisions in force, and in accordance with the “Design guide-lines” issued by RFI which will be delivered in the second stage of the competition.
such guide-lines concern:

• tactile routes for people with visual impairment;
• accessibility in stations (removal of architectural barriers);
• toilet facilities for the public;
• advertising fittings in stations;
• lighting in the Passengers’ Buildings;
• ign system (instructions for the sign system design in stations).

Main general regulatory references:


- Legislative Decree No.163 of April 12th 2006.

- Law No. 415 of November 18th 1998, “Amendments to Law No. 109 of February 11th 1994 and further provisions on public works”.

- Presidential Decree No.554 of December 21st 1999, “Regulation for the enforcement of general policy law No.109 of February 11th 1994 on public works, and following amendments”. With exclusion of the articles abrogated by Legislative Decree No.163 of 2006.

- Circular No.1329 issued on September 7th 2000 by the Ministry of Public Works, “The general regulations on public works come into effect (Presidential Decree No.554/99)”.

- Decree No.145 issued on April 19th 2000 by the Ministry of Public Works, “Regulations on the general tender specifications of public works under article 3, paragraph 5, of Law No.109 of February 11th 1994 and following amendments”.

- Presidential Decree No.34 of January 25th 2000,“Regulations on the implementation of the rating system for the contractors involved in public works, under article 8 of “Law No.109 of February 11th 1994 and following amendments”.

- Circular No.182 issued on March 1st 2000 by the Ministry of Public Works, “Presidential Decree No.34 of January 25th 2000 with the regulations on the implementation of the rating system for the contractors involved in public works, under article 8 of “Law No.109 of February 11th 1994 and following amendments – First explanatory and operational guide-lines”.

- Circular No.823 issued on June 22nd 2000 by the Ministry of Public Works, “ Presidential Decree No.34 of January 25th 2000 with the regulations D on the implementation of the rating system for the contractors involved in public works, under article 8 of “Law No.109 of February 11th 1994 and following amendments. Further explanatory and operational guide-lines”.

FS Instruction No.44 of November 11th 1996 “General criteria and technical requirements for the design, the construction and the testing of over-line bridges and footbridges above the railway roadway”.


- Ministerial Decree January the 14th 2008

- Ministerial Decree of September 14th 2005 Ministry of Infrastructures and of Transport “Technical rules for building”. (Official Gazette No.222 of September 23rd 2005 – Ordinary Supplement No.159).

- New anti-seismic regulations – Order No.3274 of March 20th 2003 (Supplement to the Official Gazette No.105).

- New anti-seismic regulations – Order No.3316.

- Decree of October 21st 2003.

- Law No.1086 of November 5th 1971 “Standards for the regulation of reinforced, plain, prestressed concrete works and of metal works”.

- Ministerial Decree of February 14th 1992, “Technical rules for the construction of plain and pre-stressed concrete works and for metal structures”.

- Ministerial Decree of January 9th 1996, “Technical rules for calculation, construction and testing of reinforced, plain and pre-stressed concrete buildings and for metal structures”. (method of limiting states).

- Circular No.252 AA.GG./S.T.C. of October 15th 1996; Instructions for the enforcement of the “Technical rules for calculation, construction and testing of reinforced, plain and pre-stressed concrete buildings and for metal structures”, as per Ministerial Decree of January 9th 1996.

- Ministerial Decree of January 16th 1996; Technical rules on the “General criteria for safety verification of buildings and of loads and overloads”.

- Circular No.156 AA.GG./S.T.C. of July 4th 1996; Instructions for the enforcement of the “Technical rules on the general criteria for safety verification of buildings and of loads and overloads”, as per Ministerial Decree of January 16th 1996.

- Ministerial Decree of March 11th 1988, Ministry of Public Works, “Technical rules for the surveys on soils and rocks, stability of natural slopes and escarps, general criteria and instructions for design, construction and testing of soil supporting works and of foundations”.

- Circular No.30483 of September 24th 1988, issued by the Ministry of Public Works; “Law of February 2nd 1974 article 1--Ministerial Decree of March 11th 1988. “Technical rules for the surveys on soils and rocks, stability of natural slopes and escarps, general criteria and instructions for design, construction and testing of soil supporting works and of foundations. Enforcement instructions”.

- Law No.64 of February 2nd 1974, “Directions for constructions with particular measures to be taken for seismic areas”.

- Ministerial Decree of January 16th 1996 “Technical rules for construction in seismic areas”.

- Circular No.65 of April 10th 1997, issued by the Ministry of Public Works, “Instructions for the enforcement of the Technical rules for construction in seismic areas, as per Ministerial Decree of January 16th 1996”.


- Presidential Decree No.547 of April 27th 1955, “Rules for the prevention of industrial accidents”.

- Presidential Decree No.303 of March 19th 1956,“ General rules for industrial health”.

- Legislative Decree No.626 of September 19th 1994, “Enforcement of directives 89/391/EEC, 89/654/EEC, 89/655/EEC, 89/656/EEC, 90/269/EEC, 90/270/EEC, 90/394/EEC and 90/679/EEC on the improvement of safety and health conditions of workers at workplaces”.

- Legislative Decree No.152 of April 3rd 2006, “Environmental rules”.(Official Gazette No.88 of April 14th 2006 – Ordinary Supplement No.96).

- Legislative Decree No.284 of November 8th 2006 “Corrective and additional measures of Legislative Decree No.152 of April 3rd 2006 on environmental rules”.(Official Gazette No.274 of November 24th 2006).

- Ministerial Decree No.174 of April 6th 2004, “Regulations on the materials and the objects that can be used in the fixed systems for purification, treatment, conduction and distribution of the waters to be used for human consumption”.(Official Gazette No.166 of July 17th 2004).

- Legislative Decree of March 19th 1996, Amendments and supplements to the Legislative Decree No. 626/94 for the enforcement of EC directives on the improvement of safety and health conditions of workers at workplaces”.


- Law No.118 of March 30th 1971, “Turning of Legislative Decree No.5 of January 30th 1971 into law and new rules in favour of the disabled”.

- Law No.13 of January 9th 1989, “Provisions for the removal of architectural barriers in private buildings”.

- Ministerial Decree No.236 of June 14th 1989, “Technical provisions necessary to ensure accessibility, adjustability and inspection of private buildings and of public subsidized residential housing, with a view to the removal of architectural barriers”.

- Ministerial Circular No.1669/U.L.issued on June 22nd 1989 by the Ministry of Public Works, “Explanatory circular of Law No.13 of January 9th 1989”.

- Presidential Decree No.503 of July 24th 1996. “Rules for the removal of architectural barriers in public buildings, areas and facilities”.

- Law No.104 of February 5th 1992, “General policy law for the assistance, social integration and rights of disabled people”.

- Presidential Decree No.384 of April 27th 1978; “Rules for the enforcement of article 27 of Law No.118 of March 30th 1971, in favour of the disabled, as regards architectural barriers and public transport”.

- Decree No.11/R of January 3rd 2005; “Rules for the enforcement of article 5 quarter of Regional Law No.47 of September 9th 1991”(Rules on the removal of architectural barriers). (Regional Gazette No.3 of January 12th 2005).

- Circular letter No.21723/4122; Ministry of the Interior – Rules for the removal of architectural barriers”.


- Law No. 373 of April 30th, “Rules for the control of energy consumption for thermal use in buildings”.

- Law No.46 of March 5th 1990, “Rules for plant safety”.

- Law No.10 of January 9th 1991, “Rules for the implementation of the national energy plan on rational energy use, energy conservation and development of renewable energy sources”.

- Legislative Decree No.192 of August 19th 2005; “Enforcement of directive 2002/91/EC on energy efficiency in building” (Official Gazette No.222 of September 23rd 2005 – Ordinary Supplement No.158).


- Presidential Decree No.547 of April 27th 1955, “Rules for the prevention of industrial accidents”.

- Law No.191 of April 26th 1974, “Rules for the prevention of industrial accidents in railway facilities”.

- Presidential Decree No.469 of June 1st 1979, “Rules for the enforcement of Law No.191 on the prevention of industrial accidents in the areas and facilities managed by the autonomous concern of State Railways”.

- Legislative Decree No.494 of August 14th 19962, “Enforcement of the Directive 92/57/EEC concerning minimum safety and health measures to be adopted in temporary or mobile construction sites”.

- Legislative Decree No.493 of August 14th 1996, “Enforcement of the Directive 92/57/EEC concerning minimum guide-lines for safety and/or health sign system at workplaces”.

- Ministerial Circular No.91 of 1961, “Safety rules for the fire protection of steel buildings to be used for civil purposes”.

- Ministerial Decree of February 16th 1982, “Amendment to the Ministerial Decree of September 27th 1965 – Definition of the activities subjected to fire-prevention visits”.

- Ministerial Decree of November 30th 1983, “Terms, general definitions and graphic symbols of fire prevention”.

- Ministerial Decree of February 1st 1986, “Fire-fighting safety rules for the construction and the operation of garages and similar facilities”.

- Ministerial Decree of January 11th 1988, “Rules for fire prevention in the undergrounds”.

- Ministerial Decree of March 10th 1998, “General fire-fighting safety criteria and emergency management criteria at workplaces”.

- NFPA 130. National Fire Protection Association. Standard for Fixed Guideway Transit System, 1993 edition.

- The devices suitable for fire prevention and for the organization of fire safety shall be in line with the guide-lines provided by the Operating Order No.102/89 by the State Railways General Manager, issued in accordance with the provisions of article 36 of Law No.191/74.

- Ministerial Decree issued on November 3rd 2004 by the Ministry of the Interior, “Provisions for the installation and the maintenance of the devices for the opening of the doors located along escape routes, with a view to fire safety”. (Official Gazette No.271 of November 18th 2004).

- Circular No.4 issued on March 1st 2002 by the Ministry of the Interior; “Guide-lines for the assessment of fire safety at workplaces attended by disabled people”. (Official Gazette No.131 of June 6th 2002).


From the viewpoint of rules and regulations, the land where the station shall be built does not provide for any particular restrictions. It is a zone characterized by a prevailing agricultural destination; besides, there are no landscape or archaeological restrictions, excepting the generic one which requires preliminary explorations of subsurface before the beginning of the works. There is no state property area; on the contrary, land regulations point out a proprietary situation, with a fragmented agricultural activity.

The elaborate planning procedure which has preceded the competition allowed us to come to a solution which has no significant interferences with areas of historical or monumental interest.


The facilities that make up the Travellers’ Building are:

1. Trains’ stop. Position and height of tracks, of platforms and the trains’ stop axis shall be respected. For each platform both an adequate number of connections and adequate escape routes shall be envisaged, to ensure a good operation of the station, according to the above said traffic expectations. Vertical connections from and to platform level shall be provided for with stairs and escalators, to be designed in accordance with the design guide-lines issued by RFI, and with the safety rules in force.
2. Pedestrians’ and vehicles’ entrances. Entrances shall be well positioned and easily identifiable. Adequate areas for long-time (Park and Ride) and short-time (Kiss and Ride) parking areas, possibly different areas for users of High-Speed facilities and users of Circumvesuviana facilities. Other areas shall be destined to tourist buses, police officers, accessibility for staff and facilities, emergency and disabled parking.
3. Parking areas, bus and Kiss and Ride. With reference to time horizon 2015 and in accordance with the supposed modal distribution, the following areas shall be provided:
   
   Private cars:
   • 15 parking places for Kiss&Ride (3 for leaving passengers and 12 for arriving ones)
   • 60 parking places for short-time parking, 10 out of them for Circumvesuviana facilities
   • 530 parking places for long-time parking.
   Tourist buses:
   • 2 stalls
4. Concourses, connections and distribution areas The routes shall be direct and easily identifiable, in order to minimize travelling and transit times among the different transport modes. Free areas for the storage of the trolleys, other areas equipped with seats for waiting people shall be envisaged. In the concourses and possibly at the main nodal points of distribution areas, in correspondence with adequate widenings, general arrival-departure indicators shall be provided. Along main routes and in waiting areas, wide spaces shall be destined to advertisement communication; provided that they are not located near the information panels on railway operation. Horizontal routes shall be accessible to electric vehicles for safety, maintenance and cleaning. The overall floor surface shall be about 800 sq. m.
5. Passengers’ Building. The passengers’ building shall be located near the main entrance and in such a position to allow an easy and functional access to trains. It shall include ticket offices, customer assistance desks, travel counselling and information desks, and be linked with the town information desk. The passengers’ building shall be integrated with car-hire points, information desks and ticket offices of other means of public transport, public telephone centre. The total surface shall be about 80 sq. m., in addition to 20 sq. m. for staff changing rooms.
6. Commercial facilities. Areas for commercial facilities addressed to a quite wide range of consumers shall be provided; railway users who purchase in relatively short time, commuters interested in necessaries or that found it convenient to do shopping during the wait time, visitors interested in the shopping centre offer, or in the very long opening time of shops, these visitors go to the station not necessary to travel. Commercial services shall comply with high quality standards and be structured into trading units of about 30 sq. which may be aggregated, if necessary. The total surface shall be about 800 sq. m.
7. Banking and post facilities. Areas for banking and post facilities integrated with commercial services shall be envisaged. The total surface shall be about 30 sq. m.
8. Catering. A well-organized system of refreshment rooms and cafes capable of meeting very diversified requirements and connected with distribution and commercial areas shall be provided. The total surface shall be about 460 sq. m.
9. Toilet facilities. Shall meet the needs of disabled in separated facilities. The total surface shall be about 60 sq.m.
10. First-aid post and general consultancy. The total surface shall be about 30 sq. m.
11. Areas for station maintenance. Store-rooms, changing rooms, offices for the management of cleaning services and premises for waste disposal shall be envisaged. Total surface shall be about 100 sq. m.
12. Areas for public officers, fire brigade and management of crisis. The areas for public officers shall be located in a visible position, in order to prevent theft and vandalic actions, and to reassure visitors. Areas for fire protection shall be provided. A room to be used as operation headquarter for the management of crises linked with accidents of particular extent shall be arranged. The overall surface shall be about 60 sq. m.
13. Offices for the management of the station. Offices for the administration and the management of the station and the commercial services shall be provided. It is to be hoped that offices be linked - adjacent or placed on top of - to the main ticket offices centre, and lighted with natural light. The total surface shall be about 50 sq.m., in addition to 30 sq. m. to be destined to the management of parking areas.
14. Areas for railway facilities. Areas for the operation of the railway infrastructure (movement and traffic control), strictly related to the rail level, shall be envisaged. The total surface shall be about 30 sq. m.
15. Premises for technological systems. Premises for air conditioning system, electrical system, fire-fighting system, telecommunication, mechanical systems, plumbing and sanitary fixtures, safety and security (anti-intrusion, CCTV, access control, smoke detection) systems, computerized control system of plants shall be provided. The total surface shall be about 200 sq. m.
16. Warehouse, store and service areas. They shall be suitable for vehicles and provided with adequate spaces for manoeuvring, loading/unloading and storing. Materials’ transportation shall take place through adequate routes and goods lifts and it shall not interfere with the passengers’ flows. The total surface shall be about 250 sq. m.
17. Roofing. Making accessible to the public the roofing structures of the station by providing roof garden arrangements, is a solution that may be taken into consideration. In this case, easily controllable accesses and the possibility that they may be closed during night hours shall be envisaged.

Based on what said before, a summarizing table of inside areas excluding platform levels, fire escapes, skylights of systems and plants follows below.




With the aim of minimizing the impact on the territory, near the interchange station a multi-storey car park for about 530 cars shall be located, which shall be extended in compliance with the guide-lines that follows below.

Inside the station, areas for cash desks, offices for the management and the administration and premises for car-hire companies shall be provided. A sheltered pedestrian route linking the car park to the station shall be envisaged.

The dimensioning of parking areas has been differentiated depending on the future expectations of reference, respectively related to the first functional stage (2015), the second functional stage (2020) and the third one (2030). The relative requirements concerning the areas necessary for the construction of the parking shall be initially referred to the minimum value, to be later on extended depending on the increase in traffic. The dimensioning of car parks, subdivided according to the number of users of the High-speed railway line Monte del Vesuvio and the Circumvesuviana railway, indicating the number of parking places for long-time parking as Park and Ride (P&R) and the ones for short-time parking as Kiss and Ride (K&R) follows below.




In order to integrate the design of the station in a unitary framework, participants are required to develop a general outline which comprises a unitary plan of outside arrangements, including pedestrians’ and vehicles’ entrances to the station, indicating the areas concerned by the following stage and their purposes, links and connections between the station and the surrounding road system.

1. Electrical systems
   • medium voltage power supply line
   • medium voltage/low voltage transformation electricity substation
   • low voltage general power board
   • generating sets
   • direct current sets
   • secondary power boards
   • secondary distribution lines
   • earth system
   • lighting installation
   • safety lighting installation


2. telecommunication and special systems
   • telephone system
   • intercom system
   • sound diffusion system
   • optical sign system
   • timekeeper system
   • building automation system


3. mechanical systems
   • moving pavements
   • escalators
   • elevators


4. ventilation system
5. air conditioning system
6. fire extinguisher system
   • smoke and fire detection system
   • extinction system


7. safety systems
   • access control system
   • anti-intrusion system
   • CCTV system


8. plumbing and sanitary fixtures
   • supply plumbing
   • drainage system
   • lifting system to the height of sewerage system
   • plumbing and sanitary fixtures
   • sprinkling system

The system configuration shall ensure self-sufficiency in the energy supply among the areas occupied by railway facilities and areas managed by third parties. The computation of the energy consumption shall be separate for each facility.


The design shall envisage particular contrivances for the protection of water pipes, in particular those pipes which are not located in underground passages (under platforms, vertical skylight wells) shall be protected by means of counter-pipes, the underground passages shall be provided with draining systems and actions to facilitate inspection and maintenance.


The arrangement of the lighting system is one of the elements peculiar to the architectural design. It is possible to adopt general common guide-lines for many stations or similar facilities. Artificial light shall facilitate the use of the areas accompanying visitors in their movements outside and inside the building.

It is necessary:

• to ensure good visual comfort preventing any large contrast in the areas’ lighting;
• to ensure a reassuring and sufficiently well-lit area;
• to ensure a lighting level suitable for visual and video surveillance of all areas;
• to highlight routes also through artificial lighting;
• to provide adequate lighting for escalators and elevators.

In railway stations it is necessary to keep a good level of liveability in the environment both for users and to ensure the safe operation of all technical systems and equipment. Large air quantities have to be moved from the inside to the outside and vice versa by using low sound emission equipment, to ensure suitable conditions in the areas and to remove the thermal storage released by the different equipment.

Priority shall be given to the use of energy recovery techniques, by assuming the reference parameters envisaged by Law No.10 of January 9th 1991, by Presidential Decree No.412 of August 26th 1993 and by Decree of July 27th 2005, Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport, concerning the implementation of Law No.10 of January 9th 1991 (article 4, paragraphs 1 and 2), “Rules for the implementation of the national energy plan on rational energy use, energy conservation and development of renewable energy sources”, shall be adopted for calculations.

The following data shall be considered for the Municipality of Striano:

• climatic zone           C
• degrees per day     1.147
• altitude                     22 m s.l.m.
• categories                E2/E4(3)/E5

The area concerned by the station is characterized by Mediterranean climate, with quite mild winter temperatures and spring and summer temperatures fluctuating between 10°C and 30°C. Several sources and surveys carried out in pluviometric stations show that the zone in question is included in those costal areas that receive between 1000mm and 1200 mm of rain per year.

The comfort conditions to be met inside the interchange station considerably differ from each other depending on the kind of area. The RFI Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Italian Railway Network) standard for the Vesuvio Est Station should be applied:




Wherever possible, energy recovery for the pre-treatment of primary air should be provided.


Emergency exits, entrances for the rescue vehicles, alarm systems, smoke evacuation and air inlet system, extinguishers and special systems shall comply with the provisions of the regulations in force on fire safety.


A building automation for the control of all systems shall be arranged. The system shall be provided with a supervision plant with networked data acquisition units and operator positions, responsible for concentrating and processing the information coming from the peripheral control units and from the other subsystems, as well as for their use for the control system for the facility management and for the historical, statistical and maintenance data recording.

The supervision plant of the building automation system shall be located near the areas for fire safety installations.


Compatibly with the features of the station, the design shall:

• locate them, as far as possible, in barycentric position;
• envisage dedicated corridors, so that maintenance or repairs take place without upsetting the ordinary use of the station.

Technical routes integrated into the architecture of the station shall be also provided, in order to ensure easy access to the fans for air extraction or intake, for the manoeuvring systems for natural ventilation, for the lighting units, for the sound diffusion devices, for the video cameras of the CCTV system.


The interchange station shall be so designed as to ensure its correct integration also from an environmental viewpoint, both during construction and in the following stage when the facility works at full capacity.

For this reason the design shall be developed considering of the environmental regulations in force.


For the town of Striano and for the whole province of the chief town of Campania, the design and the construction of the station is a significant opportunity to start the redevelopment of strategically important areas for the new lay-out and development of the town, according to levels of importance from the town and metropolitan level to upper levels.


Design levels are those envisaged by article 164 of Legislative Decree No. 163/2006.

The printouts envisaged by annex XXI to the Legislative Decree No. 163/2006, as well as those envisaged by the legal regulations and by technical regulations on building design, on structures, systems, safety, will be drawn up for each design level.



The cost of the construction of the first functional stage of the station shall not exceed the value of 21 Million Euro, including the structures envisaged for embarkation/disembarcation and the relative shelters.

The cost of the envisaged works of the following two functional stages shall not exceed the value of 11,5 Million Euro, for an overall total amount of the station of 32,5 Million Euro.


As for the 13 station complexes in the main Italian towns, the transfer of the management rights and economic exploitation of commercial areas to third parties is envisaged for this station as well.


Time schedule of the design competition for the Vesuvio Est interchange station

Notification of the competition announcement to the Official Gazette of the European Community (G.U.C.E.): September, the 10th 2008

Delivery of the files (dossier) by the participants in the Preselection: October, the 27th 2008

Notification of the result of the Preselection and invitation to take part in the Competition:
Within 60 days from the delivery of the files participants for the Preselection.

Site investigation and workshop:
Within 30 days from the invitation to take part in the Competition.

Inquiries by the participants:
Within 30 days from the over-the-spot investigation and workshop.

Replies to the participants’ inquiries:
Within 30 days from the deadline for the submission of inquiries.

Delivery of the Competition printouts:
On the 120th day following the date of the telegram with the invitation to take part in the Competition.

Notification of the final results of the Competition:
Within 90 days from the delivery of the Competition printouts.
For structural elements, inside horizontal and vertical partitions, for the building elements above the ground level, the designers taking part in the competition may suggest the building techniques and the materials that they will regard as more suitable by considering rail and platform levels, as well as the above-mentioned restrictions and requirements.


The design shall envisage the development of the station in 3 functional stages:

The first stage, coinciding with the activation of the station - time horizon 2015 - shall envisage an area of about 3,000 sq. m. gross floor space (s.l.p.), excluding platform level.

The second stage - time horizon 2020 - shall envisage a possible extension up to about 6,500 sq. m., and the third one - time horizon 2030 - shall provide a further development of the station and an icrease in the total surface up to a maximum of 8,000 sq. m.

The design shall envisage that the first functional stage, including the subway, be achieved in a maximum of 2 years, in a way to envisage the construction of the station even after the completion of the works concerning the rail level, including the platforms.

The above-mentioned space of time is to be considered for the mere construction, i.e. net of the time concerning the executive design and its consequent approval.


Designs shall have to be realistic in the choice of technologies and materials used to build the new station, to ensure durability and low costs of maintenance and management. It is not a question of limiting the boldness and the expressiveness of architectural proposals; but of ensuring efficient durability over time. Therefore, participants are recommended not to opt for short-lived architectural choices and perishable materials both inside and outside the building. In addition, particular attention shall have to be paid to the lighting - even natural lighting - of areas, to acoustics, to air conditioning, if any, and to finish materials, which shall take people attending the facility into account. The design of the building shall be aimed at reduced energy consumption and maintenance costs.



The located area for the future settling of the High-Speed Station falls within the territory of the Municipality of Striano (Province of Napoli), adjacent to the municipalities of Sarno and Poggiomarino, east of the Vesuvio volcanic complex, in the plain of Agro Nocerino Sarnese. This area, characterized by a prevailing agricultural activity, displays sparse and low-density settlements, frequently dot-like ones, related to the agricultural and food industry, to the processing of agricultural produce and the canning industry.

The three municipalities as a whole, border clockwise the three municipal territories of Lauro and Quindici (in the Province of Avellino), Bracigliano, Siano, Castel S. Giorgio, Nocera Inferiore, San Valentino Torio, Scafati (in the Province of Salerno), Boscoreale, Terzigno, S. Giuseppe Vesuviano and Palma Campania (in the province of Napoli). The concerned area is delimited by the coast urban area of Torrese Stabiese conurbation, to the south-west, and by Sarnesi pre-Apennines mountains, which connect the Agro Nolano with the Agro Nocerino Sarnese north-eastward.

This area is characterized by sparse and low-density settlements, often dot-spotted ones. Here, the common practice of building without any obedience of the plans is the result of the absence, the ineffectiveness or the obsolescence of planning instruments. This widespread settlement expansion has not been returned by a well-balanced integration of public facilities and infrastructural equipment; which, even in areas with a high population density, are either lacking or weakly interconnected with urban centres, so far as to affect the ordinary management of common local services.

In particular, we notice the absence of a plan concerning a wide area (the Territorial Plans of the Provincial Coordination of Napoli and Salerno are not yet in force, since they are simply “adopted” by the respective provincial bodies) able to coordinate, through structural and unitary estimates, the changes and the development of wide portions of territory, where the fragmentation of administrative borders requires the creation of territorial outlines able to define strategic layouts on intermunicipal scale, in order to represent a point of reference for plans, policies and programs.

In addition, on intermunicipal scale, there are different sector and protection plans: the Sarno Basin Plan, the National Emergency Plan regarding the document “National emergency planning for the Vesuvio Area” drafted by the National Civil Protection in 1995, and other development programs such as the Territorial Agreement for the occupation of the Agro Nocerino Sarnese and, in the Area Stabiese, the Area Torrese Stabiese Agreement, managed by the Costa Vesuvio S.p.A.


This area is organized on an infrastructural network which defines its accessibility and mobility conditions, mainly based on a road network of different levels, and on an railway infrastructure, the Circumvesuviana, which interconnects the area with the metropolitan area of Napoli.

In particular, as to the road system, the main axes are: the motorway A30 Caserta-Salerno (linked to the area by the Sarno junction); the State Road 367 (which runs parallel to the A30 and is linked up southward to the State Road 18 in the territory of Nocera Inferiore, this one linking the Vesuvio south urban area and the motor road A30 Napoli Salerno); to conclude, the State Road 268, which is the most important infrastructure linking the municipalities of Vesuvio north area one another, and for which a link with the A3, south of the municipality of Angri, is envisaged. The construction of new fast-flowing major roads has allowed the rationalization of the radial model of mobility, traditionally directed to the chief town, by supplementing the radial routes with crossing roads orientated along the east-west directrix.



These axes, mainly viaduct, has shown a significative weakening of the integration with the area, because even if they have allowed a more rapid crossing of urban areas, at the same time they have changed the stratified connection between settlements and road system, affecting in historical matrices of the structure of the area.

Railway transport is ensured on the north by the FFSS Ferrovie dello Stato (Sate Railways) line, in particular with the Sarno station, and by Circumvesuviana Torre Annunziata-Poggiomarino and Napoli-Ottaviano-Sarno lines, which link the whole area to the regional transit system.

Therefore, the new High-Speed station is located in barycentric position regarding the current infrastructural system and the consequent organization of territory and, among other things, is connected to the Circumvesuviana Napoli-Ottaviano-Sarno line south-west of the inhabited centre of the Municipality of Striano.


The portion of territory concerned by the construction is object of different supra-municipal - provincial scale - planning instruments: in particular, the Municipalities of Poggiomarino and Striano fall within the Territorial Coordination Plan of the Province of Napoli, the Municipality of Sarno within the Territorial Coordination Plan of the Province of Salerno. Both of these instruments have been adopted by the respective Province Councils but are not in force yet.

The whole area is under the Sarno River Basin Authority Plan (Law 183/89). The Sarno basin refers to the Authority of the ATO3 “Ambito Territoriale Ottimale Sarnese Vesuviano” (Sarnese Vesuviano optimal territorial district), which drew up a district plan for the management and transferred the management of this service to the GORI Gestione Ottimale delle Risorse Idriche (Optimum Management of Water Resources) S.p.A. The Regional Park of Sarno River (Decree of the President of the Regional Executive Council of Campania No. 780 of November 13th 2003), providing a perimetric delimitation, a zoning, general rules for the environmental protection and recovery works, redevelopment and improvement. The Sarno Basin includes the territories of no less 39 municipalities with over 750,000 inhabitants, and portions of three provinces: Napoli, Salerno and Avellino. Both environmental and development policies of local authorities have an obvious and relevant influence on the basin, which is so important that ev en draw the Region of Campania’s attention.

In the Municipality of Sarno, which has not a General Planning Scheme (Law No. 1150/42) yet, a Programma di Fabbricazione (Urbanization Program), with Regolamento Edilizio (Building Regulations) enclosed is in force, approved by Decree of the President of Regional Council No. 1248 of 23 October 1973. At present, the new General Planning Scheme is being drawn up, only a programmatic document of it, with relative policy and guide-lines, has been approved.

The Municipality of Poggiomarino has a General Planning Scheme in force, drawn up in 1994.

The Municipality of Striano also has a General Planning Scheme, approved by the Decree of the President of the Province of Napoli No. 142 of January 24th 2000.


The Province of Napoli has adopted the PTCP (Provincial Territorial Coordination Plan), but it has not been approved yet. According to this document, the municipalities of Striano and Poggiomarino are included in the Supra-municipal District “Area Vesuviana Interna” (“Internal Vesuvio Area”). The supra-municipal districts identify areas with uniform or similar environmental, cultural and economical features, as well as similar strategical features of development, readjustment and economical policies envisaged by the PTCP (Provincial Territorial Coordination Plan).


As to infrastructures for railway and road mobility, the PTCP (Provincial Territorial Coordination Plan), on the basis of a sufficiently structured equipment of the road system, especially in order to ensure protection from natural risks (hydro-geological, volcanic, seismic, etc.) and accessibility to areas destined to economic development, in accordance with the provisions of the regional programmatic framework, pursues the priority target of the creation of a coordinated system of metropolitan railway transport, connected with national and regional lines. In particular, it is envisaged:

• the adaptation and the completion of the provincial road system in order to:
  • develop the mobility system among supra-municipal districts of the polycentric system;
  • improve the road system in the areas at volcanic risk (Vesuvio and Campi Flegrei), even for emergency evacuations, if necessary” in accordance with the special Plans approved by the Province Council, and the interconnection with the national system;
  • to achieve an high road safety;
  • have a lower environmental impact.
• the rationalization, the adaptation and the completion of the metropolitan road and railway mobility network, in accordance with the regional expectations and the Provincial Transport Plan, to ensure a full and equal chance of mobility in the provincial territory of the different supra-municipal districts, without necessary depending on Napoli’s junction and in connection with national and regional lines, and to considerably reduce the use of road vehicles, especially private ones.

As it can be inferred from the annexed tables, the area concerned by the new High-Speed Station is identified by the PTCP (Provincial Territorial Coordination Plan) as an “Area of primary interest for agricultural production”. According to the plan, these areas are destined to primary agricultural production: of high productivity, of cultivation of products of registered designation of origin, of special local products. Primary agricultural areas represent a considerable natural and environmental resource for ecological equilibrium and for biodiversity values in the territory. In these areas, works consistent with the rural nature of soils are permitted, in particular:

• the cultivation, the reshape, the arrangement, the supplementing of topsoil lands and related works (terracing, edging, containment walls, etc.) strictly linked to the agricultural production, according to the peculiarities of the environmental and agricultural areas and of the cultivations.
• the maintenance, the supplementing and the construction of the irrigation system and the drain network, preserving the historical agrarian plan of irrigation network, maintenance, restoration, construction of local and municipal country roads, preserving, where possible, the agrarian inter-farm subdivision and the arboreal and shrubby vegetation, even for decoration and edges’ purposes;
• the construction of networked infrastructures to serve farm facilities and houses in rural villages, including the construction of local plants for the collection and disposal of wastes derived from the manufacturing of organic farm products;
• The renewal of the historical rural building system (farms, farmhouses, rural residences and villages, rural buildings and extensions…).

To conclude, in these areas, the PTCP (Provincial Territorial Coordination Plan) prohibits the cutting down of forest trees and plants of great value and landscape value.


Besides the historical outline, adequately perimetric and regulated, the remaining areas are defined as “Prevailing urban redevelopment” by the PTCP (Provincial Territorial Coordination Plan). For these areas, the plan envisages the redevelopment of the most recent sparse and dense house settlements, and of public residential housing, even through the integration of public services and spaces, of infrastructures for public transport mobility and of social aggregation and relationship; the redevelopment of buildings erected without public permission and the renewal of rural areas and urban market gardens, not only for the preservation of the activities destined to family or social activities, but also for the preservation of a system of ecological islands within the settling conurbations.

In particular, as to the internal Vesuvio area, the PTCP (Provincial Territorial Coordination Plan)envisages works of urban redevelopment mainly destined to the renewal of settlements and historical and cultural properties, to the renewal of the hydro-geological system of the Somma-Vesuvio volcanic complex, to the permanent settling decompression (in the sense of reduction of building density and therefore housing density on a territory at eruption risk), through works of urban restoration aimed at the demolition of the most intensive buildings groups and at the reconversion of public facilities and economic activities (tourist and accommodation facilities, tertiary and goods and services facilities,…). In this line, an increase in mobility infrastructures, in particular new interchange and intermodality junctions, improves the accessibility of the Vesuvio urban area - by strengthening the interconnection of this district with the overall regional territory -, and so develops the escape routes system, as a strategical and sustainable goal for the area in question.


The PTCP (Provincial Territorial Coordination Plan) of the Province of Salerno was adopted in December 2001 and is not in force. It concerns the neighbouring areas of the one where the High-Speed/High-Capacity Station (AV/AC) is envisaged, in particular the Municipalities of Sarno, S. Valentino Torio and S. Marzano sul Sarno.

According to the local authority the new PTCP (Provincial Territorial Coordination Plan) is an urban instrument of “higher degree”, but it is to be intended as continuative action for the coordination of municipal policies to rearrange wide areas (also by identifying different works of a single development strategy: cf. proposal for the Piana del Sele); an action aiming at a sustainable economic development, starting from the protection and the promotion of natural, historical and cultural resources.

In particular, the planning of a wide area is seen as strictly linked to the sustainable development of the territory. On this point, it seems relevant in the plan the concept of ecological economics, meaning:

• the activation of structural policies aiming at reforming production processes;
• the facilitation of public and private enterprise systems which may originate from the “closing” of waste cycle;
• the promotion of the “industry of nature” linked to the management of protected areas.

Furthermore, the PTCP (Provincial Territorial Coordination Plan) also indicates eventual economic development policies: «the economic development of the province shall not set aside a strengthening of the fabric of the manufacturing industry…only a sensible growth of the role played by this sector shall create the necessary resources for a development of the entire productive sector in the province, of the same tertiary sector, …a system of local development based on the small and medium-sized enterprise (there are about 20,000 small enterprises of the craft sector in the Province).

The overall strategy of the plan is structured into different activities: the promotion of the resources and the “natural” vocation of the South and of the local potential, forcing the “market” in favour of the environment through organized strategies:

• renewal of old town centres and the existing housing heritage;
• reforestation and naturalization of rivers;
• cleaning up of the sea;
• redevelopment of the coast;
• energy conservation;
• diffusion of organic farming;
• promotion of protected areas;
• separate waste collection, recycling of urban waste;
• Development of public transport, in particular railway and sea transport.

The Preliminary Basin Plan for the Hydrological Layout (divided into Landslide risk and Flood risk) was adopted by the Institutional Committee of The Basin Authority on April 10th 2002 following the works of the Programmatic Conference of December 2001, in which the involved Municipalities and the Provinces took part.

The territories under the Authority of the Sarno Basin extends over a total area of 715,42 sq. km, equals to the 5,23% of the entire area of the Region of Campania, concerning the Provinces of Avellino, Napoli and Salerno. This area is delimited by the Somma-Vesuvio volcanic complex to north-west, by the Gulf of Napoli and the Sorrento Peninsula to south-west, by Solfora and Sarno mounts to noth-east, is crossed by the Sarno river and the Solofrana and Cavaiola torrents, by the Alveo Comune Nocerino and by Rio Gragnano. The Sarno river originates at the base of the calcareous massif situated among the Picentini mountains, the Lattari mountains and the Partenio mountain chain, at an altitude of 30 m. above sea level. Along its course (about 22 km) the river gathers water from a wide catchment basin which extends over 600 sq. km through the provinces of Avellino, Napoli and Salerno, and the municipalities of Sarno (SA), Striano (NA), S. Valentino Torio (SA), Poggiomarino (NA), Boscoreale (NA), S. Marzano s ul Sarno (SA), Salerno, Angri (SA), Scafati (SA), Pompei (NA), Torre Annunziata (NA), Castellammare di Stabia (NA).

The activity of the authority falls within a complex and structured framework, based on the Law No. 183 of 1989. This law establishes the Basin Authority as board having jurisdiction on the “hydrographic basin” (defined as a unitary system), and identifies the “Basin Plan” as the cognitive, regulatory, technical and operational instrument through which actions and regulations of use are planned and programmed, in order to preserve, protect and promote the soil and the correct use of water, on the basis of the physical and environmental features on the concerned area.

The plan developed by the Basin Authority has the following main objectives:

• identification and definition of the borders of the areas at hydrogeological risk;
• arrangement of rescue measures in the aforesaid areas;
• drawing-up of assistance programmes for the mitigation of risks.

The national emergency plan for the Vesuvio Risk, developed by the National civil protection on the basis of the phenomena of the most likely, provided by the scientific community, identifies three areas of different dangerousness defined: red zone, yellow zone and blue zone.

The area concerned by this study, and in particular the municipalities of Striano and Poggioromano, of Sarno, of S. Valentino Torio and S. Marzano sul Sarno, are included in the Yellow Zone. The Yellow Zone has a lower dangerousness than red one and corresponds to the whole area that could be affected by the falling of pyroclastic particles (ash and lapilla) which may, among other things, excessively overburden the roofs of buildings to the point to cause their collapse. Furthermore, the falling of particles may damage respiratory tracts, in particular in predisposed individuals not adequately protected, or may damage crops and create problems for air, railway and road traffic.

It is envisaged that, as happened in 1631, only the 10% of the yellow zone shall be really affected by the falling of particles, with consequent damages. Nevertheless, also in this case it is not possible to know in advance which area will be really involved, in that it will depend on the altitude of the eruptive column and on the wind speed and direction at the same altitude at the moment of the eruption. Unlike what happened in the red zone, however, the phenomena expected in the yellow zone do not represent an immediate danger for the population and it is necessary that a certain period of time pass before the fallen material accumulate on building roofing to the point to cause possible structural failures. Therefore, there is the possibility to wait for the beginning of the eruption to verify which shall be the affected area and to proceed to the evacuation of the population living there, if necessary.

The yellow zone comprises 96 Municipalities of the Provinces of Napoli, Avellino, Benevento and Salerno, a total area of 1,100 sq. km and 1,100,000 inhabitants.

The program “Vesuvia” represents the most advanced stage of the policies for the mitigation of the volcanic risk of Vesuvio area developed by the Councillorship of Town Planning of the Region of Campania, included in the provisions of the Regional Law No. 21 of 2003. Besides envisaging the reduction of house density in the “red zone” (an area immediately surrounding the crater, of higher dangerousness because potentially subjected to piroclastic flows, i.e. a mixture of gas and particles at high temperature which by moving at very high speed could destroy a wide area close to the volcano) through the promotion of economic incentives and reductions, the program envisages, even for the yellow zone, the promotion of the archaeological and architectural heritage and the reconversion of cleared buildings in tourism and culture facilities.

It is essential for the program to work in “consensual terms”, in order to achieve a settlement reduction based on the shared concept of the reduction of the risk for the populations living in the area; and it is clear that the reduction of the risk has to be combined with a deep restoration of the settling system in question, in terms of both redevelopment of what is already existing and environmental sustainability. Expectations regarding the improvement of the connection infrastructure system, a new display and the study of interconnection junks, are crucial, even for a better organization of escape routes.


The territorial pact was created to generate development, new employment and to boost the area which comprises 12 municipalities of the wide plain of Sarno river: Angri, Castel San Giorgio, Nocera Inferiore, Nocera Superiore, Pagani, Roccapiemonte, San Marzano sul Sarno, Sant’Egidio del Monte Albino, San Valentino Torio, Sarno, Scafati, Siano.

This instrument of negotiated planning represents a concrete application of development strategies based on partnership and required, more than in an occasion, by the European Union. All main entrepreneurs and social workers of the plain are involved in the program, for the first time they have overcome vicissitudes and historical conflicts by signing an agreement on general perspectives and development goals for a complex area, with the aim of starting a new process of economic planning from below.

The organization of the initiatives envisaged by the pact are managed and organized by the Patto Territoriale dell’Agro (Territorial Pact of Agro) S.p.A., which has consolidate its role as local development agency with the task of acquire the necessary resources to implement the operational plans defined by the partnership, ensuring quality and effectiveness of projects financed with an incisive and attentive activity of monitoring and evaluation. The stimulation of private and public initiatives has used all possible financing channels, on regional, national and European level.


As stated before, the Municipality of Sarno, the only one in the Province of Salerno among those involved in this study, until now has never had an organic instrument of municipal planning - General Planning Scheme, denominated by the new Regional Law No. 16/2004 Municipal Urban Plan. Instead, the Municipality adopted in 1972 a Urbanization Program and its relative Building Regulations, definitively approved on October 23rd 1973 with Decree of the President of Regional Executive Council No. 1248. The intrinsic limits of this instrument – whose provisional character is repeatedly confirmed in the text – are amplified by the obsolescence of its prescriptions, which turns out old not only because urban and settling conditions have changed over the last three decades, but also because the several national and regional regulations that have succeeded and that only partially have been assumed by the Building Program, through variants and changes, have also changed.

Only recently, a complex action of recovery and ordinary planning of the municipal territory has been set up, with the drawing-up of the new PRG (General Planning Scheme) – committed to the Studio Boeri in Milan – of which a Preliminary Document containing guide-lines and directions is available. In it some “emblematic areas” have been singled out and defined as «a whole of occasions within the town to recover and renovate significative buildings and building complexes - most of them of public property - which are currently dismantled, underused or destined to be dismantled». The Circumvesuviana and Ferrovie dello Stato (State Railways) Station, the spinners’ complex and the public areas linked to it, the renewal of “Lagni” (canals) , the renewal and new purposes for the fruit and vegetables market, the Slaughterhouse, the old Sanatorium and other dismantled buildings may represent, according to the plan, some “focuses” for a planning design-study aiming at identifying new facilities or rationalizing t he existing ones. For each “emblematic area”, the Municipal Administration, together with the PRG designers, may start a series of meetings and tests with private entrepreneurs and/or other public bodies in order to identify which activities or functions shall be developed in each area. Private investment may intervene either in the form of public and private partnership or in the form of design finance, or rather through a temporary permit of the public good for the achievement of a program of activities and functions precisely regulated by the PRG. Beside parks or other forms of public green, the Plan identifies other existing resources which may represent the «implicit value for the construction of a series of new urban parks: archaeological areas, the aqueduct, dismantled quarries, ancient canals and the ones under constructions». In particular, the plan envisages that the future development of the town may happen around a precise widespread infrastructure of urban areas and facilities which permit, f ollowing the long time of the development, the construction of a continuous and shared urban reference. The PRG (General Planning Scheme) identifies some “centres of innovation” (school complex, PIP, Civil Protection centre, new hospital) as a whole of construction transformations under way which may represent a remarkable strategic work for the future of Sarno, with the consequent induced demand in terms of facilities, parking areas, accommodation areas, etc.

In its development, the new Plan proposes some strategies which in part concern the areas neighbouring the one of the new High-Speed Station, and which in general deal with the policy of the urban and environmental system strictly related to the new infrastructure in question. These goals concern actions like: building a new relationship between town and countryside in the plain of Sarno river; pursuing a peculiar function for the Sarno junction of the A30 (Napoli-Salerno); defining a relationship with the disurbanization process in the Vesuvio area; exploiting the great tourist potential of the big regional and national parks which are being established around; redefine the role of the town in the reticular urban system of the Agro Nocerino Sarnese Agreement.


The Municipality of Poggiomarino – delimited to the north by the municipality of Palma Campania and in clockwise sequence by the municipalities of Striano, S. Valentino Torio, Scafati, Boscoreale, Terzigno and S. Giuseppe Vesuviano – is characterized by a flat territory, lacking of morphological emergencies, degrading northwest-southeastward from the foot-of-the-hill system of Monte Somma towards the Sarno river, with a maximum drop of 34 m. between the higher altitude of 48 m. and the lower one of 14 m. above sea level.

Agriculture still is a considerable economic activity for the town, having marked the development of its fabric of a city. Urban expansion only marginally compromises the cultivated area. In fact, the limited extension of the municipal territory and the short distances between the inhabited centre and the extreme periphery have contained the number of scattered farmhouses, therefore, besides the remaining sixteenth- and seventeenth-century farms not yet included in the urban perimeter and in the recent settlements scattered along the main roads, agricultural areas do not present any building. To summarize, today the municipality of Poggiomarino appears a territory which goes through a considerable phase of transformation and expansion but without any purpose and precise role. Pressed by a continuous demographic growth, not only due to a natural balance in hand but also to the immigration push coming from conterminous urban areas nearly saturated, has reacted with a rapid and irregular extensive urban expa nsion, exclusively residential one, and so lacking of infrastructures and services, and totally apart from the local productive reality. At the same time, the town undergoes deep social changes, favoured by a substantial presence of non-EU immigrants, with a transfer of considerable amounts of work-force from the primary sector to the secondary and tertiary sectors displayed in extra municipal areas. Therefore, the town no longer has the same agricultural vocation of its origins, and is marked by an expansion of the service industry which in the end aims at changing the urban reality into a dormitory town, anonymously absorbed by the metropolitan conurbation.

In this context the programmatic lines of the PRG (General Planning Scheme), without opposing the evolutionary tendencies under way, tends to give the Municipality a new identity and autonomy by pursuing some basic goals:

• even if in presence of considerable requirements determined by the continuous demographic growth, the plan does not identify new areas of expansion outside the perimeter with buildings, but destines new spaces to the completion of existing buildings by occupying internal areas even for public residential areas, with the aim of making a urban unit of the irregular settlements built during the last two decades and of protecting as much as possible the agricultural area;
• the renewal of local productive sectors in order to contain social changes by avoiding or reducing as little as possible the dormitory effect;
• The renewal of the urban reality through a new seam of the current frayed fabric with an integrated system of infrastructures, facilities and services capable of giving the inhabited centre a new shape, compactness and consistency.

Approved in 2000 (Decree of the President of the Province of Napoli No. 142 of February 24th 2000), the General Planning Scheme of Striano concerns an area of a little more than 7,2 sq. km. and marked by three big infrastructures: the motorway A30 Caserta-Salerno, north-east, and the new High-Speed railway, south-west, both of them passing through the municipal border, and the Circumvesuviana Napoli-Ottaviano-Sarno railway passing across the municipal territory.


The area concerned by the construction is located in the central southern part of the plain of Campania, sheltered by the Vesuvio-Somma volcanic complex, which characterizes the morphology and the geology of the whole area.

The construction in any case is affected by its closeness to the volcanic system, therefore the volcanic and seismic risks have to be taken into account as to the feasibility of the work.

From the geological point of view, Campania, especially the coast, is concerned by a volcanic complex fixed on a carbonatic shelf, which has broken and tectonized in the way explained afterwards. The depressions created in the platform, in time have been filled with lava and mainly with piroclastic material (volcanic bombs, scoriae, lapilla, tuffs, petrified ashes, pumices, etc.), but also with appennine material brought by the rivers.

This is the way how the Plain of Campania took shape, made up by heterogeneous deposit with different lithologic features and different levels of diagenetic process; in that we pass from loose material to lithoid material.

Pyroclastic rocks, for example, have granulometries going from silts to gravel, and include all the intermediate stages.

The different kinds of tuffs are pyroclastic rocks which acquire lithoids features as a consequence of a digenetic process known as zeolitization; this process is not homogeneous in the whole mass, so the level of cementation varies and the incoherent tuff becomes compact tuff.

As to the genesis, the Vesuvio volcanic complex is strictly related to the whole Tyrrhenian volcanic system, in particular to the complex of Campi flegrei, Ischia and Procida, displayed according to an East-West alignment.

On the coast margin, from Toscana to Campania there is a considerable number of volcanoes of different ages, their genesis can be linked to the eastward rotation of Italy, which began 7 million years ago and is still on.

This rotational movement of the peninsula causes a stretching in the earth’s crust, precisely in the superficial rock layer which covers the whole earth, up to make it thin and rend it. This phenomenon has repercussions in depth, with a drop in pression causing the fusion of some of the minerals which make up the earth’s mantle.

When melted, this material is lighter than the solid one which is above, so it tends to come up, both through the fractures in rock layers and “making holes” and melting the rock layers; if it reaches the surface, give rise to a volcanic activity.

In the east part of the Italian peninsular arch, the Tyrrhenian basin took shape and the tangible traces of the above said tearing consist of a series of volcanic systems, some of them are extinct (the submerged volcanoes in the middle of Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pontine Islands).

In the Vesuvio area, during the researches to find new geothermal energy sources it has been found that the oldest activity is proved by evidences dated 500,000 years ago.

In Campania, the oldest volcanic activity, recognized by surveys on surface, is the one of the Roccamonfina volcano, (700,000 – 300,000 years ago). An initial effusive activity has been followed by the emission of lavas whose composition is similar to the Vesuvio’s, afterwards a violent explosive activity caused the formation of a caldera, in which later on very viscous lava were emitted and gave rise to a series of hills. In the west part the impressive lava streams of the primordial volcano are still visible, while the east part is completely broke up.

Starting from 200,000 years ago, the volcanic activity is centred in Ischia, Procida, Monte di Procida, Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio.

The volcanoes still active in the area of Napoli (Ischia, Procida, Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio) took shape in relatively recent times: the oldest volcanic activity is Ischia’s one, dated starting from 150,000 years ago; while the last one is the Vesuvio’s in 1944.

The rotation of the Italian peninsula, due to the relative movement of lithospheric plate in the border between the African and European plates, and the opening of Tyrrhenian Sea also happen through vertical movements along the faults, supposed at 4,000 m., involving the whole Tyrrhenian slope of the Apennines and that have given rise to the depressions in the plains of Volturno, Sele, Garigliano and in Piana Campana.

The current geological and morphological layout of Piana Campana was outlined since the Pliocene on, that is to say in the last 5 million years. The vast depression formed after the displacement and the lowering of blocks of calcareous rocks (carbonatic shelves), whose rests still emerge on its borders (i.e. Monte Massico to the North and Penisola Sorrentina to the South), afterwards has been filled with volcanic sedimentary products, as one can be see below in the geological plan developed by the University of Roma.



The presence of faults, besides photogeological studies, has been established through gravimetric studies on dryland and seismic profiles in the sea. In particular, the fault passing through the Vesuvio also cuts the deposits of relatively recent eruptions, and along it the lateral volcanic eruptions of 1794 and 1861 happened,. as one can see in the recent plan of the late-quaternary faults of the Southern Apennines developed by the University of Napoli which follows below.



In the plan, both the lines whose tectonic activity - in the considered chronological intervals - is certain (faults displacing lands and/or dated morphological elements), and the lines whose activity in the interval is considered possible (broken lines).

Given the peculiarity of the area, it is right to highlight the potential geological risks. As for the seismic risk the area is classified by law as seismic, with different levels of risk depending on the municipality concerned, and even if it is far from Apennine areas with an higher level of seismicity, it is affected by a geological and geotechnical situation (due to lithographic and stratigraphic configuration) able to broaden the local shaking even in a considerable way.

As to the volcanic risk, despite volcanic events may sometimes be more impressive than other natural phenomena, actually they pose less problems in comparison with other catastrophes which happen more frequently and in many cases are more predictable. This does not mean that an eruptive event has no destructive ability, but it is clear that the consequences are particularly related to the presence of human settlements in proximity of volcanic systems whose areas are relatively small if compared with the ones exposed to the risks of floods, landslides and earthquakes.

In order to foresee the possible consequences of a volcanic event, it is necessary to know the different modalities through which the phenomenon may reveal itself on the surface. To this aim, we remember, in a few words, that, according to their violence, eruptions may be divided into:

• effusive ones, characterized by a low explosive power and by the emission of lava flowing along the sides of the volcano. The products of effusive eruptions are therefore mainly made up by streams of lava. If the lava cools down without managing to flow may give rise to ring-shaped cumulations called lava domes;
• Explosive ones, characterized by an extreme explosive power and by an high eruptive column which extends upward in a typical cloud of ash, pine-shaped. This kind of eruptions are also called “plinians”, from the names of Pliny the Elder, who died during the eruption of the Vesuvio in 79 A.D., and Pliny the Younger, who described it. Another kind of explosive eruptions, the phreatic and magmatic ones, happen when there is a direct contact between magma and water.

The more disastrous are the effects of eruptions, the bigger is the urbanization in the area surrounding the volcano and the higher is the probability to have an explosive phenomenon.

The studies carried out till now in the field of volcanology and the knowledge acquired do not allow to establish the right moment of the beginning of a volcanic activity. However, the study and the monitoring of the activity of several volcanoes, carried out for a long time, have permitted to create quite reliable and realistic models of probabilistic forecast.

These expectations are based on the study and the observation of a series of phenomena that reveal themselves with the approach of or some time before the volcanic eruption, the so called “warning signs”: medium and low density earthquakes, deformation of the ground, raise in activity and temperature of “fumarole” (the opening through which volcanic gases come out), variation in the concentration of some of the chemical elements in the subterranean waters, etc.; these precursory phenomena allow to forecast, sometimes with several weeks in advance, the resuming of the volcanic activity.

In the area of Napoli, the National Civil Protection has created a map of the areas more at risk, divided into three main zones:

Red Area of ~200 sq. km which could be completely destroyed by streams of mud made up by ash and other eruptive materials (piroclastic flows and volcanic mud flows “lahar”).

Yellow Area of ~1,125 sq. km where ashes and lapilla in quantities that exceed the endurance limits of buildings’ roofs (the breaking limit fluctuates between 300 and 500 Kg per sq. m.) could deposit.

Blue Area of ~98 sq. km included in the Yellow Area, whose morphology make them possible flood phenomena and mud flows.

Within the Emergency Plan for the Vesuvio area, 8 alarm levels with different modalities of evacuation of the areas depending on the risk level have been defined.

To conclude, as unfortunately the tragic effects of recent muddy events happened in the Sarno area remember, the hydrogeological risk has not been neglected.

The municipalities more directly concerned by the construction of the new infrastructure, Striano, Sarno and Poggiomarini, all of them are included in the yellow zone.



The origin of the toponym Striano has often been the matter under discussion. Some scholars, in the past, maintained that the name Striano derived from Istriano, word indicating a person coming from Istria, in this case this person could be S. Severino, patron saint of the city.

Thanks to studies and researches, later on it has been assumed that the toponym derived from the characteristic configuration of the land, divided into strips of lands extending from north to south. It was supposed that it derived from the latin word “strigae”. The latin Striganum (or Istricanum, in its modified form) would have become the vernacular Strigano, used till the XIII century, when it would have lost the guttural sound to definitely become Striano.

However, recently one has arrived at the conclusion according to which the toponym Striano be of Roman origins. In the table of Velleja there is the quote unfundus histrianus. Besides, according to the historian Flechia, toponyms ending in “-iano” derive from Roman families that in the last years of the Republic and at the beginning of the Empire settled down in the lands granted to them as donation, will or confiscation.


Striano is in the middle of a very ancient necropolis. Its first houses, built with straw and wood are traced back to a village born in the Iron Age (between 1000 and 700 B.C.). All of this is documented by the materials found in the archeological excavations which have dug out several hole –like graves, in which the deceased was surrounded by rich funeral outfits.

Its first inhabitants were the Opici, indigenous populations who introduced the cultivation of cereal and vine crops, the Etruscans, the Samnites and the Romans followed. Precisely during the period of samnite influence the first rural residences rose, real farms scattered in the countryside of the plain of Sarno.

The big earthquake of 62 A.D. and the eruption of Vesuvio in 79 A.D. forced the inhabitants to leave our land.

The following period is characterized by scarce historical documents.

A community of country people came and settled down in our fertile land at the beginning of the first millennium, giving rise to a small inhabited centre named Striano.

In 1200, the territory of Striano, which since a century had been part of the County of Caserta, passed to the County of Saro, following the arrest of the Emperor Frederic II. Therefore, Roberto I, count of Sarno, became lord of Casale (hamlet) di Striano.

Since the end of 1200 to the end of 1400, the territory of Striano had belonged to different families and feuds. Under the Orsini, the small village of Striano was surrounded with walls provided with access doors, erected on the roads leading to the neighbouring villages, Palma Sarno, S Valentino Foce and Sylva Mala. These doors were opened early in the morning to allow peasants to go to the fields, and closed at the sunset when they came back. Only one of these door is left today, the Arco di San Nicola, in via Palma.

Between the end of 1400 and the beginning of 1500 the University of the Terra di Striano was born, an autonomous community very similar to the current Municipality, one of the few to have a municipal charter since the XV century, with the Mayor and two Elected in chief.

With the abolition of feudality under the reign of Joseph Bonaparte, new administrative bodies were created, the Municipalities. The old University of Striano was divided in two Municipalities: Striano and Poggiomarino. The latter, since its birth, in VII century, had been a strianese hamlet and was named Taverna Penta. In 1808 the two Municipalities were united and Striano, old chief town, became dependent on its former hamlet.

In the following year, after obtaining the autonomy, Striano had its administrators back. When King Ferdinand I of Bourbon decided that each municipality of the Reign had to have a graveyard outside the inhabited area, the citizens of Striano began to bury their deaths in the Church of San Severino, waiting for the construction of the cemetery, which would have took place near the same church.

During the Renaissance also in our town there where many affiliates to the Carbonary movement and to its risings. Among them stands out Beniamino Marciano, Professor of Literature, who, following Garibladi, knew the revolutionary of Gallipoli, Antonietta De Pace, with whom afterwards got married by civil wedding ceremony. Two internal streets of the town - starting from the home of Marciano - were dedicated to both of them.

After the unification of Italy, many improvements in social and economic field concerned Striano. In fact, in this period the ancient Municipal House was renewed and enlarged; also the clean water main was decided.

On December 28th 1904 the railway section of Circumvesuviana, San Giuseppe - Poggiomarino – Sarno, steam traction, was inaugurated.

During the First World War, Striano had many young soldiers killed in the battle, among them was Roberto Serafino, to whom later on was dedicated a town street. In 1935, the “Podestà” at that time, Dr. Giovanni D’Anna, ordered the construction of a school building (elementary school and kindergarten).

The Second World War brought about many casualties as well, and caused the destruction (by the fleeing Germans), in September 1943, of the elementary School, of the Municipal House, the Church with the Bell Tower, the Circumvesuviana Station, and many other private buildings.

With the advent of the Republic, besides the agriculture, the crafts, the commerce and the small industry developed. During the Fifties and the Sixties, several public works and many roads were renewed and paved. On October 10th 1969 in via Poggiomarino, a fruit and vegetable market was inaugurated. The first mechanical industries “General Freni (today Italian Brakes) and “Osla Sud” are traced back in the Seventies.

Of the same decade are the magazine “Presenza” (“Presence”), Professor Luigi Zumpo and the literary prize Primavera Strianese, divulgation of the same magazine.

Following the earthquake, the municipal palace, unusable, was pull down and rebuilt a few years later. Furthermore, the new kindergarten was built in via Rinascimento. During the last years, the Porta Civica of San Nicola in via Palma and the first lot of the Municipal Residence in via Risorgimento, have been restored.

(Source " Striano: Storia, tradizioni e sapori " (Striano. History, Tradition and Tastes) Edited by Rosangela Rega and Filomena Pagano)