Meridiana Obelisk in the Villa Comunale

The sphere returns to the top.

The Meridiana Obelisk, originally the gnomon of the sundial, is one of the obelisks of Naples.

It stands within the Villa Comunale; its construction is owed to Stefano Gasse, at the time of the works to enlarge the eighteenth-century garden.

The work is composed of a piperno obelisk surmounted by a brass sphere (which was kept in the storerooms of the Comune di Napoli) and a meridian line in piperno and white marble.

By returning the bronze sphere to its place, the integrity of the obelisk has been restored. The graffiti and the layers of grime, composed of soot and dirt deposited over the years, were removed from both the vertical elements (obelisk) and the horizontal ones (sundial). The growths caused by biological attack were also eliminated, and all the surfaces on which other processes of deterioration were under way have been conserved.

Period: 18th century.