Demolition of Scampia's Vele: Controversial Brutalist Housing Complex

The final phase of demolishing the Vele in Scampia, Naples, has begun and will conclude in about a month. Of the original seven buildings (A–G), only Vela B (Vela Azzurra) will remain, to be renovated under the Restart Scampia project with €27 million from the Municipality of Naples, housing Metropolitan City offices and the Federico II University medical faculty. The Vele were designed by architect Franz Di Salvo between 1962 and 1975 under the 1965 law for affordable housing (PEEP). Inspired by Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation, Kenzo Tange, and Japanese Metabolism, the 100-meter-long, 45-meter-tall, 14-story buildings featured parabolic curves. Each unit was 50 m² with a 10 m² terrace. The project failed due to cost-cutting, lack of services, high density, and social issues exacerbated by post-Irpinia earthquake relocations and criminal infiltration. Despite the degradation, architect Ada Tolla of Lot-ek defended the Vele's architectural value in a New York Times campaign, calling the demolition a failure of execution and management, not architecture. The article argues that local administrations missed opportunities for inclusive urban regeneration, leaving only images of Di Salvo's 'terrificante bellezza' as memory.