|
|
    |
|
||
|
 |
|
The Royal Palace of Caserta
The construction of the Reggia began in 1752 and continued at a good pace until 1759, the year in which Charles of Bourbon left the kingdom of Naples to take up the crown of Spain. Thereafter building slowed down, and at Vanvitelli’s death in 1773 it was still far from being completed. Up to 2681 workers were engaged simultaneously on the yard, of whom 300 master masons, 166 convicts, 245 Turkish Mohammedans captured on the pirate ships that infested the Mediterranean, 160 Christians guilty of misdemeanour; all under supervision of 438 guards, 14 adminstrators and 3 directors. According to the reports of the times, for the transportation and the removal of materials, aside from horses and donkeys, camels and elephants were used! It was not until 1847 that the Throne Room was finished and the work could finally be considered completed.
From the upper entrance hall to left coming out of the Historical Apartments, there is the Cappella Palatina, that the king wished to be a likeness of the Chapel of the Royal Palace of Versailles. According to Vanvitelli’s original design, on the tables between paired columns were to be placed six marble statues that were never carried out, representing the Patron saints of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. A section of the Palace is dedicated at the Private Apartments of the King and the queen. The most important room is the Throne Room, the largest of the Historical Apartments. This room remained undecorated for over half a century. Francis I was the one who put the architects Pietro Bianchi in charge of the decoration of the room. Bianchi designed, in 1824, a monumental drawing room devoted to the sovereigns of the Bourbon dynasty, whose marble statues were to be placed along the main walls. In the rest of the palace there are also: the apartments of Francis II, the rooms of Joachim Murat, the rooms of Pius IX, the rooms of the Seasons, the apartment of Ferdinad I of Bourbon and of Maria Carolina, in which there are the original furniture used everyday by the sovereign. The Park, designed by the Architect Luigi Vanvitelli as a natural complement to the Royal Palace extends over approximately 120 hectares on slightly sloping land. The architects Vanvitelli had designed it to be a semicircular space, similar to what had been planned in front of the main façade, subdivided in the French taste by flowers beds laid out in patterns outlined by box hedges. The Park is adorned with several fountains, with a crescendo of theatral effects, where the artistic potential of the natural element “water” are subordinated to an architectural design based on perspective. The upper side of the Park includes the English Garden, planned by the queen Maria Carolina of Hapsburg. It reflects the assertion of the art of the informal or landscaped garden. The combination of fake ruins of Italic Temple with authentic elements, taken from the excavation carried out in the Vesuvius area of Pompeii and Hercolaneum, give the English Garden of Caserta a meta-historical flavor.
|
|
|
|
How to get from Naples to Caserta
Nearby sights
|
|
|
|
Home | What to visit | Travel Tips | Postcards
All kind of questions and suggestions are welcome: info@summerinitaly.com. Copyright © 2001-2008 Summer In Italy. All rights reserved. |
The
Royal Palace of Caserta was planned by Charles of Bourbon, who came to the
Kingdom of Naples in 1734. In the choice of the site, which had belonged to
the family of the Princes Gaetani di Sermoneta, foe of the Bourbons,
climatic motives were predominant – salubrity of air and fertility of soil
– strategic reasons, being the distance from the sea and the consequent
risk of naval gunfire, and political-economic ones regarding the development
of hitherto neglected land. Several architects were considered, finally
Luigi Vanvitelli was given the charge, already designer and architects in
the service of the Pope.
In
the middle of the west side of the palace is located the theatre. It was
concluded in the 1768 and inaugurated by Ferdinand IV and the Queen Maria
Carolina on the occasion of the Carnival in 1769.