The first railway station of Naples and Italy was constructed in 1836 under the order of Ferdinando II of Borbone nearby the current site of the Station Circumvesuviana. In the year 1866 the station was already moved to its current site, and immediately the station set itself up as the center of life, movement, and business affairs in the city of Naples. Born from the design of the architect and town planner Enrico Alvino in the environment of one study for the reorganization of the fabric of the town, the station became the pivotal location for the entire surrounding area.

Originally, the station consisted of three hinged-together pavilions: the ticket counter in the middle and on either side was the baggage drop off and bar. The inside structure was in the form of star and was surrounded by a garden. With a progressive expansion of traffic determined the necessity of taking another look at the location of the station and to designate ampler spaces for the circulation of the surrounding area.

Between the years 1954 and 1960, the 18th century station was demolished to make the 250 meters worth of space needed for the new travel center that now defines the current arrangement of Piazza Garibaldi. The blueprints of the station (a fusion of three different winning designs from a competition in 1954) are today characterized from a particular structural conception and modeled on a triangular matrix.