Maybe not everybody knows that in Naples, other than the first Italian railway (Naples-Portici in 1839), worked also the first Italian subway line: the current Line 2 on the national railway line, which joins Gianturco to Pozzuoli, urban part of the railway where pass some of the trains to Rome and to Northern Italy, going through the secondary stations of Naples Piazza Garibaldi, Naples Mergellina and Naples Campi Flegrei (Phlaegrean Fields). Actually it was an adaption, since they used and still use the national rail tracks also for a part of urban transport: it is still working, but since 1980 they began to build a real subway system, which is partially done while the rest is still in development and should be ready for 2011.

Currently are active two new subway lines, even if their route is not competed yet: Line 1 and Line 6. The Line 1 will be the main asset of the urban transport system in Naples, thanks to its circular route through the most frequented places and most crowded districts in the city, as well as many exchange stations with railways and large parkings at the city limits, which should free some of the urban traffic. Currently Line 1 joins Piazza Dante in the centre to the outskirts area of Piscinola, passing through Vomero, the Rione Alto and the hospitals area. In the future the circular line will come back to the centre passing through the airport of Naples Capodichino, the Business Centre, the main railway station of Napoli Centrale and the harbour of Molo Beverello. Nowadays are active 13 kms of line with 14 stations open: it is active from 6:00 a.m. up to 23:00 with 232 daily runs, every 6 minutes in the pick hours. Since Naples is a city on hills, it was an hard work to build the subway line and the active stations are connected with the city ground by 76 moving stairways and 47 elevators.

Line 6 is instead a direct and plan line which once completed will connect the harbour (where it will have an exchange station with Line 1) to Fuorigrotta, where are the Stadium and the fair area of Mostra d'Oltremare, passing through Chiaia and Mergellina. The part currently active links by a route of 2.3 kms the district of Fuorigrotta to Mergellina, through four stations: Mostra (Fair, exchange with Cumana), Augusto, Lala and Mergellina (exchange with Line 2, the old subway Pozzuoli-Gianturco passing by Piazza Garibaldi). When it will be completed, the route will cover 5.5 kms with 8 stations, 3 with exchange connections, and the other stations will be: Arco Mirelli, San Pasquale, Chiaia and Piazza Municipio (in front of the harbour). The main characteristics of Line 6 are: the absence of architectural barriers, the presence of outlined routes for low-sighted people and of special elevators systems. Its stations will host works of contemporary art and have been designed by internationally renowned architects.

Also the stations of Materdei, Salvator Rosa, Quattro Giornate, Museo and Dante in the Line 1 have been designed following these principles, looking for harmony with surrounding environment but also a their own cultural character, so that they have been called "Stations of Art". Important Italian designers have been called to plan them: Alessandro Mendini for Salvator Rosa and Materdei, Domenico Orlacchio for Quattro Giornate, and Gae Aulenti for Museo and Dante. Their task has been to transform the stations from traditionally anonymous and depersonalizing areas to places of identity and culture, working in great consonance with artists of different inspirations. The stations have been transformed in living museums, where art works get out from the usual enclosures to enter in daily life of people, integrating harmoniously in the architecture.

The artists who accepted to expose their works in this new environment are (in alphabetical order): Marisa Albanese, Renato Barisani, Betty Bee, Maurizio Cannavacciuolo, Luca Castellano, Sandro Chia, Enzo Cucchi, Riccardo Dalisi, Lucio Del Pezzo, Santolo De Luca, Baldo Diodato, Sergio Fermariello, Massimo Jodice, Nino Longobardi, Umberto Manzo, Ugo Marano, Fulvia Mendini, Raffaella Nappo, Luigi Ontani, Mimmo Palladino, Salvatore Paladino, Gloria Pastore, Augusto Perez, Perino & Vele, Gianni Pisani, Mimmo Rotella, Anna Sargenti, Ernesto Tatafiore. This project has raised great interest and international resonance: the highest stage has been the presence in the VII Biennal of Architecture in Venice.