Deep within the heart of Naples stands an impenetrable fortress towering above the red clay shingled roofs around it. 6 sharp, triangular projections mark out the tips of its star layout looking out in 6 different directions of the city. It did not always begin with such grandeur, the space originally having been occupied by a church to St Erasmus 11,000 years ago. With the entry of the Spanish came fortifications and the construction of a battlement to protect the city center.

Beneath the insurmountable walls lies an ex-high prison that once held the loudest voices of the Parthenopean Republic and its military. Yet, renamed as the Museuo del Novecento, the area continues to hold prisoners of thought in canvas and marble. These are all the game changers in the vicinity, 20th Century Neapolitan art that radically alters and challenges norms. Inmate 17 is the unnamed, wrapped and bound figure by Salvatore Cotugno who remains seated in silent defeat. Smudged pigments and vacant eyes mark out Inmate 9, Le Quattro giomate di Napoli who goes by the alias ‘The four days of Naples’. Disconcerting and discordant, each inmate adds a different character to his room. A bulwark surrounding the arts, Castel Sant’Elmo is more than just crumbling clay and stone.