Welcome to Caserta
From Jesse's Journeys in Italy
Population: 75,005 (2003)
Official website:
Caserta
Wikipedia:
Caserta
Map:
MapQuest
The Royal Palace at Caserta
See all of our Caserta Tours
Though some 75,000
people live in Caserta, and the
city is a charming, colourful and
picturesque, the only
building anyone ever visits in
Caserta is uninhabited.
This is the famous “Reggia”, the most
sumptuous royal palace
in Italy and one of the more impressive
buildings in
Europe.
The vast palace,
originally a summer home, was begun by
King Charles III of Naples in 1752 and
completed by Ferdinand I in 1774 from the
plans of Luigi Vanvitelli.
Both king and architect where inspired by
Versailles, and the rectangular palace was
conceived on a massive scale, with four
interconnecting courtyards, 1,200 rooms,
and a vast park. Though the palace is not
as well maintained as its French
counterpart, the main staircase puts the
one at Versailles to shame, and the royal
apartments are sumptuous.
The first stone was laid by the king on
his 36th birthday, 20 January
1752 and
construction
proceeded briskly until 1759, the year in
which Charles left Naples to take the
throne in Spain. Work then slowed, coming
to a complete halt in 1764 when, in the
midst of a sever plague and famine, the
half-finished building was occupied by the
poor and homeless.
After the death of Vanvitelli in 1773 his son, Carlo,
continued the construction, but he ran
into difficulties of various kinds and was
unable to complete the building according
to his father’s plan. Eliminated from the
design were four corner towers and a
central dome – which undoubtedly would
have relieved the gravity of the
building’s present configuration – and the
guard’s quarters, which were to enclose
the vast the fast forecourt on all sides.
During the long reign
of Ferdinand IV the palace was enlivened
by balls, receptions, hunting parties and
theatrical performances. It was the
favourite residence of Ferdinand II and
after the Unification of Italy it was
visited by the Savoyard Kinds.
The two principal facades, 247m long and
36m high, are pierced by 243 windows and
several monumental
entrances.
The palace consists of
five stories – a
ground floor, mezzanine, first floor and
second floor, and attic – containing 1200
rooms served by 43 staircases, all
arranged around four monumental
courtyards, whose decoration was never
finished.
The gardens:
From the main portico
you enter the gardens (open 09:00-1hr
before sunset), which extend to the north,
east and west sides of the palace.
Among
the more enchanting achievements of
Italian landscape architecture, they were
laid out by Martin Biancour under the
supervision of Luigi Vanvitelli. They are
famous for their fountains and ornamental
waterworks adonred with statuary gropus.
The crowing glory of the gardens is the
great cascade, a waterfall some 75 m high
that can be seen clearly from the palace 3
km away.
The central
promenade leads across a broad lower
garden bordered by oaks and camphor
trees (paths diverge into woods on the
left and right) to the circular Fonatna
Margherita, which linked by a bridge over
a sunken road to the impressive pescheria
superiore. Beyond, a long, narrow lawn
ends at the semicircular Fontanna di Aeolo,
inhabited by stautes of 29 zephyrs and
wind gods (54 were originally planned).
This is follwed by the Fontanna di Cerere,
containing seven stepped cascades and
statues of Ceres, nymphs, tritons, and
river gods; then more lawn and the
Fontanna di Venere, with its group of
Venus and Adonis.
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