Caserta


 
Tour options: The bourbon
Half day excursion: Caserta
 
In 1750, Charles Bourbon, the king of the Two Sicilies, bought the land at the foot of the Tifatini mountains from the Acquaviva family.
This land housed a small village and a pyramidal tower. This was to be the site for the future Royal Palace.
It was Pope Benedict XIV who permitted the future king of Spain Charles III, to commission the work to Luigi Vanvitelli.
This Neapolitan architect of Dutch origins was already working on preparations for the Jubilee 1750. Work began on the palace in 1752 and seven years later as the building was nearing completion, Charles left Naples to move to Madrid as king of Spain.

The Royal Palace

The Royal Palace of Caserta belonged to the House of Bourbon for more than one hundred years from 1752 to 1860 when it passed to the Savoy family. The Palace became the property of the Italian state by the issuing of a Ministerial Decree in 1919.
When Luigi Vanvitelli died in 1773, the work was still unfinished. It was only when in 1847 the Throne Room was finished, that the work could be considered completed. This brought the project to its conclusion although some of the final details were not the same as in the original plans. This was not due to the project passing to Vanvitelli’s son Carlo, but more due to the lesser interest taken by Charles of Bourbon after his departure for Spain. The Palace has a square design and the encompassed area is split into four courtyards separated by an impressive entrance hall and three naves with two lateral wings Vanvitelli designed a truly majestic entrance to the Palace with an immense avenue leading up to it flanked by two huge semi-circles that make up the Piazza Vanvitelli.
rooms of caserta
The Royal Palace has 1,200 rooms and includes the Piazza at its feet, the Park and the English Garden.

The Park


caserta vanvitelli fountain The Park extends over approximately 120 hectares on slightly sloping land and is one of the greatest architectural complexes in Europe. Water for the park and its fountains is supplied by the Vanvitelli Aqueduct.
The six monumental fountains that adorn the gardens were designed by different architects.
fountains of caserta caserta park fountains

 

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