Piazza Plebiscito has become the symbol of the recent renovation of Naples in the 1994, when it recovered its representative function on the occasion of G7 (actually G8, the recurrent summit of the most industrialized nations in the world). Since then, the piazza is a pedestrian area designed for the enjoyment of tourists and dwellers; every now and then here are played concerts and happenings or shown large installations of contemporary art.

Piazza Plebiscito was given its present name on the occasion of plebiscite held here on October 1860, by which Naples and the whole Southern Italy ratified their annexation to Piedmont Kingdom by Savoy. Before the piazza was called "Largo di Palazzo" (wide space in front of the Palace) because it faced main facade of the Royal Palace, which was built at the beginning of Seicento on project by architect Domenico Fontana, coming from Papal Court in Rome. It is noteworthy the great staircase leading to the noble floor, where it is possible to visit some halls, among which the Throne Room and the Court Theatre. The Royal Palace also houses the National Library.

In the open space of the piazza there had been some convents, at the beginning. The first was the franciscan monastery of the Holy Cross, made built by the Angevins and corresponding to the actual Palace of Salerno, which occupies the south edge of the square and contains in its interior the ancient Church of the Holy Cross, where he had been buried the young heir to the Angevin throne. The monastery had been demolished in 1775 and the new palace built on its place was initially a military headquarter and then private residence of the Prince of Salerno, by whom it took the name. Nowadays it is again a centre of military offices.

On the north edge of the piazza there was the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, on whose foot it developed a small suburb, around a square named "Largo Santo Spirito" corresponding to the actual Piazza Trieste e Trento. The monastery was pulled down at the beginning of the 17th century because of the construction of the Royal Palace, in order to enlarge the space in front of the main facade. The building that closes the piazza to the north (at symmetrical correspondence with the Salerno Palace) is the Palace of Foresteria (Guests) that was built in 1815 and today houses the Prefecture.  [ More...]