The future arrived in Afragola in 2017 on high-speed rails: the "gateway of the South" station signed by Zaha Hadid — a white wave 450 metres long above the tracks — is among southern Italy's most photographed works of contemporary architecture, and it put the town on travellers' maps. Around it lies one of Italy's youngest, densest urban areas.
The centre keeps the sanctuary of Saint Anthony, a pilgrimage draw from all Campania, and the lanes of the old farming village. Naples is fifteen minutes away, Vesuvius on the horizon: Afragola is the practical hinge between metropolis and high-speed line.
Near Afragola
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
