entry 2007
Edenlandia
Edenlandia
is the largest amusement park, or fun
fair, in Naples and one of the best-known such
attractions in Italy. It opened in 1965. It is located
at the extreme west end of the gigantic Overseas Fair
Grounds, the Mostra
d’oltremare in the Fuorigrotta suburb of
Naples. Those fair grounds have an interesting history
(see link, above) and were originally a pre-war
Fascist undertaking that underwent dramatic post-war
subdivision more in keeping with the needs of urban
expansion and, obviously, no longer dedicated to the
megalomaniacal display of Italy’s African colonies.
When the park was opened in the 1960s, there was a
small road that led by the entrance as one drove out
from Naples to Bagnoli.
That road is now a major thoroughfare, viale
Kennedy, and has newer buildings along it for
the entire length.
The
amusement park is adjacent to the now (thank God!)
defunct premises of a dog-racing
track and to the renovated grounds of the Naples Zoo. Apparently, both
Edenlandia and the zoo are now owned or sponsored by
the same persons or agency since one ticket gets you
into both. Edenlandia and the zoo fell on hard times
after the boom years of the 1970s, but, as far as I
know, Edenlandia, unlike the zoo, always managed to
stay open. These days, the amusement park seems to be
doing well. I have been out there on a few weekends
and notice that it is very popular and generally
regarded as a good place to take the kids.
As I
recall, I used Edenlandia at one time to increase my
Italian vocabulary. Such a park is, in fact, called a
Luna Park in Italian—“Moon Park.” I
don’t know why “moon” or why they used the English
word, “park.” A Ferris
wheel is boringly called a “giant wheel” in Italian
(and in some other languages) but the “roller coaster”
is called The Russian Mountains in
Italian. I do know why, but I’m not
going to tell you because they took out that ride and
that was my favorite. Someone has to pay for that
outrage, so it might as well be you.
[See updates: Nov. 2012
April 2015
& August 2016-bad
news for another year]
[update for July 2018, maybe this time]
[and Do those arches
remind you of something?, from Aug 2018.]
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