Royal Palace of Caserta

 

If you love visiting impressive palaces, especially these coming from the XVIII or XIX century, you should call by Naples area where the Royal Palace of Caserta is located. The construction of the building was commissioned by Charles III of Spain to architect Luigi Vanvitelli. The king’s object was to gain a new royal court and representative centre which would be the pride of the House of Bourbon dynasty. The building was inspired by the Palace of Versailles.

It took almost 100 years to construct the palace, so no wonder it combines varied styles. The outside is rather modest while the interior is just a synonym of richness. Truly noteworthy

is the Stairway of Honour (Lo scalone d’Onore) which is situated inside the building and presents a fantastic example of late baroque architecture. Just look at its size and splendour!:

An interesting fact about all this complex is the usage of perspective. Through the centre of the palace runs an axis that connects the building with the park. The axis’s length amount to more than 3 km which is surprising because when you are inside the building you can see the axis's end. That proves the genius of Luigi Vanvitelli who skillfully used perspective. Alongside the axis are located vast pools and fountains embellished with compelling sculptures. 

 

Inside the building, you can also see the Royal Apartments, the enormous Throne Room, a theatre, a large library, and numerous pieces of art collected through ages. The number of chambers amounts to 1200 but of course, not all of them are open to visitors. The palace is surrounded by an immense park where you can stroll through two gardens: the Italian Garden and the English Garden. Frankly speaking, the more interesting seems the second one as it contains antic sculptures blended into wild-growing vegetation while the Italian Garden is more symmetric and organised. 

 

I wanted to mention, as a curiosity, that the palace was a location for movies like Star Wars Episodes I-III,  Mission Impossible III, Angels and Demons, and tv series The Great. Furthermore, in 1997 the building was listed as a world heritage site.

 

 

sources: 

photo I: https://www.leisure-italy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Caserta-Royal-Palace-Royal-Palace-5.jpg

photo II: https://www.tiraccontounviaggio.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Scalone_dOnore_reggia_caserta.jpg

photoIII:https://ocdn.eu/pulscms-transforms/1/Xwfk9kpTURBXy8xOGI0NjBlNWI2OTU0YTgxMGEzN2UxZjM0NmJlYjNjYS5qcGeUlQMAzJjNEw7NCreTBc0DFM0BvJUH2TIvcHVsc2Ntcy9NREFfLzIzMzdjOWZkNmI5MzFlZTZjYjBkMjNkY2JhMjU4YTlkLnBuZwDCAJMJpmMwZDQxZAaBoTAF/caserta-wlochy-palac-krolewski-akwedukt-vanvitelliego-zespol-san-leucio-unesco.webp

photo IV: https://www.matesenews.it/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/il-bagno-di-venere-600x400.jpg