Top of the World
A large rock of volcanic origin linked to the mainland by a road built a few decades ago, it now houses the Juvenile Penal Institute and a NATO base. Because of its uniqueness and beauty, it has been a source of inspiration for many poets and writers since ancient times: according to Homer, in the stretch of sea between Nisida and the island of Capri lived the Sirens who enchanted Ulysses. Over the centuries it has attracted to itself historical figures and politicians who have chosen it as their home.
The fact that even today the island remains inaccessible has made it possible to preserve almost intact all its natural resources, especially on the side facing the sea, occupied by a cove called "Porto Paone" (or Peacock) because of its shape resembling the tail of this bird.
Once home to the Aeronautical Academy, now in Pozzuoli, the island is divided between a military garrison and a juvenile prison opened in 1934. Amatori Napoli Rugby in 2005 inaugurated a project for the social reintegration and re-education, through Rugby, of juvenile inmates in the island's prison. Four participants in the project are now in Campania clubs. The institute is also part of a European project that studies and seeks solutions to forms of juvenile deviance. In this building overlooking the sea, minors are involved in numerous activities aimed at developing creative skills so that they can learn a trade once they return and are immersed in the chaos of society.
One is immersed in another world when one enters this small island, a highly original fragment of the meditectural bush. Edoardo Bennato, who lived right in front of the island and admired it, also claimed this, singing, "Nisida is an island, but no one knows it."
