Historical Gallery of the VV.F. Command of Naples
With a founding decree dated 1833 and signed by King Ferdinand II of Bourbon, the fire brigade of Naples is the first in the Italian peninsula. In reality it had been established even earlier, in 1806 with Giuseppe Bonaparte at the beginning of the French decade. A real pride, as well as the same barracks in Via del Sole obtained in the former convent of Pietrasanta, the first of its kind in Italy.
A key figure in the first steps of the Neapolitan firefighters, called to any kind of emergency, not only fires, was Francesco Del Giudice, engineer director. In his day, as can be seen in the marvellous museum curated by Michele La Veglia, deputy engineer co-ordinator of the Gruppo memoria storico vigili del fuoco Campania, the body wore uniforms similar to those of the Carabinieri, then changed over time.
Among the display cases in Via del Sole you can discover how they were equipped in the nineteenth century with state-of-the-art equipment; dated 1825 is the first fireman’s helmet with a serrated sword, both found not catalogued in the museum of San Martino. On an altar stands the painting of the Madonna of tenderness, protector of the body before Saint Barbara.
In 1835, horse-drawn pumps were already equipped with a towel, chute, self-climbing ladder. Among the exhibition panels we discover how these heroes in 1837 were engaged in the great fire of the royal palace and how in 1848 they had to put out the many fires caused by the liberal uprisings. The Neapolitan firefighters – a term that with Fascism will be replaced by " – were also involved in the first bombing of Naples during the First World War and obviously in the second, with as many bombs dropped on the city.
