Napoli blows out one hundred candles: all the events of the blue birthday

The hundred years of the most supported football club in the world could not go unnoticed. And SSC Napoli, with the Campania Region and the Municipality of Naples, for next August 1st – a symbolic date chosen by the Neapolitan collective memory to celebrate a century, and beyond, of Italian history – has set up ‘Napoli 100’the central event of the round birthday celebrations.

A large event spread across various spaces of the city, free and open to citizens, will transform the heart of Naples into an open-air stage, combining sport, art, music, culture, entertainment and tradition. A story designed to celebrate the unique bond between the Club, the city and its fans, involving citizens and visitors from all over the world.

One hundred is the perfect number

The celebrations will start at 7.26pm from Piazza Carità, the club’s first headquarters, with the tolling of the bells of one hundred churches in the city, together with a spectacular blue Fumatawhich will officially kick off the event. The ribbon cutting will follow with the president of SSC Napoli, Aurelio De Laurentiis, that of the Campania Region, Roberto Fico, and the mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, among others. The blue procession will then start from the square on a journey of about one kilometer towards the large open space of the Plebiscite, following the tradition of the popular and religious processions of Campania, moments in which the community recognizes itself in its symbols and publicly shares its history.

A story brought to the stage by one hundred actors, one hundred musicians and one hundred children it will unfold from the myth of Partenope and the origins of Naples, crossing the city’s vocation for meeting and coexistence between different cultures, the forms of popular devotion and some of the most important traditions of Campania. Completing this great collective fresco will be the masks, beliefs and symbolic characters of the Neapolitan and Campanian imagination.

The Blue Night

Music will be the underlying theme of the journey, with paintings inspired by some of the songs that brought Naples to the world. Piazza Municipio will host the Pizza Village del Centenario, one of the main meeting places of the event, with free access and a program dedicated to entertainment and the excellence of the Neapolitan gastronomic tradition. Starting from 8.26pm, the Club will offer, in collaboration with its partners, thousands of slices of Margherita pizza and drinks for free. Pizzas will also be donated to people in more fragile conditions, thanks to the collaboration with the Campania Food Bank. Thanks to the presence of large screens and a dedicated audio system, the public will be able to follow the celebrations live.

The official Centenary ceremony will take place in Piazza del Plebiscito at 9.45pm. De Laurentiis, the institutions, the legends of SSC Napoli and the guests of the evening will begin a narrative that will retrace one hundred years of Italian history through music, images, testimonies, artistic performances and multimedia content. From 10.30pm, at the end of the Ceremony, the Notte Azzurra, powered by Enel, will begin. With a gesture from the stage, the city will simultaneously light up in blue: Palazzo Reale, Maschio Angioino, Palazzo San Giacomo, Castel dell’Ovo and Castel Sant’Elmo will be enveloped in the light of the Centenary, redesigning the monumental profile of Naples. The lighting will start the great Light Show and the fireworks display synchronized between Piazza del Plebiscito and Castel dell’Ovo. An original soundtrack will intertwine the images and voices that have told some of the most iconic moments in the history of SSC Napoli, to ideally unite the square, the city and the sea in one great collective emotion. The party will continue with a DJ set in collaboration with Radio Kiss Kiss, to celebrate the first century of Azzurri history and inaugurate the next hundred years.