Statua del dio Nilo, Naples

The Statue of the Nile God is the marble figure resting on a wave-shaped support in Piazzetta Nilo. You can make out the bearded, reclining river deity, his hand holding a cornucopia while his other arm leans on a sphinx. A small child figure climbs toward his chest, and the group includes the body of a crocodile near his feet.

The statue dates from the 2nd century AD and was probably set up by merchants from Alexandria, whose community lived in this part of Roman Naples. When it was recovered in 1476, it had lost its head, and that damage led people to imagine the figure as Naples itself, nurturing its children. That interpretation gave the sculpture its local name, Corpo di Napoli.

Look at the piperno pedestal: it was made in 1657, while the marble inscription belongs to restoration work carried out in 1734. The bearded head was added by Bartolomeo Mori, and Angelo Viva later rebuilt many damaged additions. The sphinx’s missing head was recovered in Austria in 2013, allowing a further restoration to finish in November 2014. This ancient image still ties the square to the Alexandrian presence that shaped its name.