Piazza Medaglie d'Oro

In the square, octagonal in shape, eight streets radiate out, including some of the main arteries of the district, making it one of the nodal points of the neapolitan urban structure, crossroads and switching point of the Fifth Municipality of Naples, which includes the two Arenella and Vomero.

[1] The square is also important from the point of view of toponymy, as it is located at the center of a series of streets dedicated to neapolitans decorated with a gold medal for military valour, almost all from the first half of the twentieth century; among these Ugo Niutta, Mario Fiore, Giuseppe Orsi, Raffaele Tarantini, Guido Menzinger, Raffaele Libroia, Francesco Azzi, Teodoro Capocci, Raffaele Stasi, Domenico De Dominicis and several others.

The gardens in the center of the square were dedicated to the memory of Silvia Ruotolo, an innocent victim of the Camorra, who was killed on June 11, 1997, having found herself by chance in the middle of a settling of scores between rival clans in Salita Arenella, near her house.

The first urbanization project of the area, in which the square was the main point according to a radial design already very similar to the current one and inspired by the ideas of the French urban planner Georges Eugène Haussmann, dates back to 1885 by Adolfo Giambarba, already responsible for the elaboration of the projects for the "Risanamento di Napoli".

[3] Although therefore already planned in 1886,[4] the works began only in 1927, based on an agreement stipulated the previous year and which provided for the accommodation of over fifty thousand people on an extension of about 250,000 square meters, with only modifications minors to the design of Giambarba.