About
The first Italian locomotive foundry is now a magnificent museum.
In 1839, the first railway in Italy opened between Naples and the town of Portici. Two locomotives were imported from England to inaugurate the new route, while other materials arrived from a small factory near Naples that produced steam engines and ammunition for military use. The Officine di Pietrarsa opened in 1840 as a steel mill and became the first Italian factory to produce locomotives in 1845. The factory quickly became the largest industrial center not only in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, but in all of Italy with more than 1,100 workers. It was visited by Pope Pius IX and Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and also produced a statue of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, one of the largest ever made in Italy.
