The Salerno Maritime Port Terminal, also known as the Zaha Hadid Maritime Station, is among the best architectural projects built in Italy, as well as among Zaha Hadid's most famous projects built in Italy.

In order to address the growing demand for cruise tourism in Campania by a variety of companies, such as: MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean and Costa Cruises, the Salerno city administration induced an international competition of ideas in 1999 to endow itself with a cruise hub at Salerno's Manfredi Pier.
The international ideas competition was won by the firm of Anglo-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, who took on the task of creating a modern and functional maritime station that could fit in with its surrounding environment.
The construction of the maritime port terminal started in 2005, but due to problems in 2009 there was a new tender for apparto effectively delaying the construction work.
After numerous court cases, the Salerno Maritime Station was inaugurated on April 25, 2016. Unfortunately, the inauguration took place without archistar Zaha Hadid, who died a few weeks before the inauguration.

It was immediately clear to the Hadid studio that the new Salerno Maritime Terminal should represent the strong relationship between the city of Salerno and the waterfront and enshrine the transition from land to sea, which is why the terminal building was designed with a shape reminiscent of an oyster projected toward the sea, characterized by curved forms, elongated structures with multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry, reflecting Zaha Hadid's ideal of architecture.
The new maritime terminal echoes the shape of the oyster, not only in its outward appearance but also in the finishes and fluid elements that characterize its interior. The roof is shaped like a protective shell, which tends to protect the structure from the intense Mediterranean sun during the day, while at night, with the illumination of its roof characterized by hundreds of LED lights and ceramic tiles, it serves as an ideal beacon for those approaching the port of Salerno, giving a warm welcome.

The interior layout of the 4,500-square-meter maritime station is on three levels, with a building length of 97 meters and a maximum height of 13.5 meters. Very few materials are used in its construction: the two shells that envelop the building are made of fair-faced reinforced concrete without any cladding, except for the extrados of the roof, which is covered with porcelain stoneware.

Due to its strategic location, barycentric between the Amalfi Coast and the Cilentana coast, and the proximity of the islands of Capri and Ischia, as well as the excavations of Pompeii and the archaeological site of Paestum, the Salerno maritime station is an ideal terminal for cruise traffic and the departure point for hydrofoils to Capri and Ischia.
The maritime port terminal represents one of the symbols of the city of Salerno in addition to being an ideal landing place as its strategic location close to the city center allows pedestrian access to some of Salerno's main attractions: Liberty Square, Crescent and the waterfront.