Maximall Pompeii: the multifunctional hub bringing life and development back to the Vesuvian area

"A state-of-the-art facility on a national and international level, surpassing the most famous shopping centre in Europe, the one in Hamburg," is the opinion of Zara's real estate development director Andrea Arienti. "A great space for culture," adds Carmine Perna, Mondadori's CEO.

They are talking about Maximall Pompeii, the large hub built with an investment of 200 million that will be inaugurated on 28 November in Torre Annunziata, on the border with Pompeii, in a former industrial area once occupied by Tecnotubi-Vega and for decades in a serious state of neglect. To which the Zes has given a strong boost. Not just a shopping centre, apparently the largest in Italy, but rather a tourist hub, with entertainment and cultural areas, a hotel, restaurants, gyms.

"In short, we have devised and adopted a new concept," says Paolo Negri, CEO and founder of the Irgen RE Group, which commissioned and realised the major project, "a quality structure with a mix of functions that will attract both citizens of the Vesuvian area and tourists. He goes on to explain: 'After Covid, there was a need to live in open spaces, not to be enclosed in sheds, and to be able to take advantage of different services. We have responded to these needs'.

We are only a stone's throw away from the archaeological park of Pompeii, visited by almost 5 million tourists in 2024, and the shrine of Pompeii, which receives another 2 million visitors a year. "But these are tourists who so far stay less than a day," Paolo Negri points out. For the 7 million visitors, the Maximall will be a place of attraction and an incentive to prolong their presence.

A hotel with 130 rooms of the 4-star Marriot chain, restaurants and bars offering mainly local and national specialities. As many as 170 commercial units with leading brands in clothing (Inditex-Zara), which for the first time in Italy will also carry the Lefties line; in toy sales (Hemley's), in food (Signor Vino). And again, eight cinemas, a theatre, a conference hall and an amphitheatre with a spectacular fountain. The setting is a green park of 50 thousand square metres, 6 thousand of which are covered, which is also an extraordinary attraction for sports enthusiasts. Five rooms dedicated to virtual Pompeii are planned, and it would be possible to house finds from the ancient necropolis that are today kept in storage. The project is being promoted by the Irgen Re Group and will also have a strong impact on employment, with approximately 1,500 employees expected, in addition to the allied industries. Personnel selections are underway, and over 10,000 curricula have been submitted. "We have thrown down a challenge that seemed impossible," adds Negri, who with his brother Corrado has led the project for years, "first of all to ourselves, then to the big brands that have agreed to invest, to the administrations, and to the territory.