The Reggia di Caserta is the largest royal residence built in eighteenth-century Europe, a single Bourbon commission that folded an immense palace, a three-kilometre park of fountains and cascades, and a working aqueduct into one continuous design by Luigi Vanvitelli.
At a glance
The Reggia di Caserta is a royal palace built for Charles VII of Naples between 1752 and 1780, designed by Luigi Vanvitelli and completed after his death by his son Carlo. It stands on a 247-metre facade with four internal courtyards, some 1,200 rooms and 1,790 windows, and is set at the head of a formal park that stretches for three kilometres to a cascade fed by the Acquedotto Carolino, an aqueduct built to supply water across many kilometres from springs near Airola. The complex, together with the park and the San Leucio silk colony, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997, reference 549.
Key facts
- Location: Caserta, Campania, roughly 30 km inland from Naples.
- Built: 1752–1780, by Luigi Vanvitelli and, after his death, his son Carlo Vanvitelli.
- Commissioned by: Charles VII of Naples, later Charles III of Spain.
- Scale: facade 247 m long, four courtyards, around 1,200 rooms and 1,790 windows.
- Park and water system: a three-kilometre garden axis leading to the Diana and Actaeon cascade, supplied by the Acquedotto Carolino, an aqueduct running around 38 km from springs near Airola and crossing the Maddaloni valley on a multi-tiered bridge.
- Heritage status: UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997 (reference 549), covering the palace, park and the San Leucio complex.
History
Charles VII chose Caserta as the site for a new royal seat because Naples itself lay within range of enemy naval guns, while an inland location did not. After considering other sites near the capital, he settled on Caserta and laid the foundation stone in January 1752, entrusting the design to Luigi Vanvitelli. Construction continued under Vanvitelli until his death, and was carried through to completion by his son Carlo by 1780. During the Napoleonic period the palace was occupied first by Joseph Bonaparte and then by Joachim Murat, whose wife commissioned the English-style garden added to the east of Vanvitelli’s formal park, the only part of the grounds not of his design. Nearly two centuries later the palace served as the headquarters of the Allied Forces in Italy, and it was in its Throne Room, in May 1945, that German forces in Italy signed their unconditional surrender. The palace, its park and the associated San Leucio complex were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.What you see
Visitors enter through the Scalone d’Onore, a grand ceremonial staircase rising through an octagonal vestibule to the Palatine Chapel, where a marble floor sits beneath a large ceiling fresco and a private royal box allowed the king and queen to attend mass unseen by the congregation below. Beyond lie the royal apartments, arranged in a sequence of suites furnished from the reigns of Charles III through to the last Bourbon king of Naples, alongside a library holding thousands of volumes and an elaborate court Nativity scene with hundreds of terracotta figures.
Outside, the formal garden runs in a straight axis from the palace towards the hills, punctuated by a sequence of fountains depicting mythological scenes and culminating in the Diana and Actaeon cascade, a sculpted waterfall fed by the Acquedotto Carolino. To one side lies the English Garden, added in the Napoleonic period, with its underground passage and more informal planting. Five kilometres north stands the San Leucio complex, a planned silk-weaving community founded by Ferdinand IV on Enlightenment principles, with its own constitution providing for education and welfare among its workers.
Practical information
- Visiting the palace and park: allow several hours to see the royal apartments, chapel, library and gardens together; check the official Reggia di Caserta website for current opening times and admission arrangements.
- Getting around the park: the walk from the palace to the top of the cascade covers around three kilometres; an internal shuttle service may be available, again best confirmed on the official site.
- San Leucio: reached separately from the main palace grounds; check current access details before visiting.
Getting there
Caserta lies inland from Naples, a location originally chosen to keep the palace out of range of naval attack. Travellers typically reach it via Naples, from where the town of Caserta is a short onward journey by rail or road; current timetables and connections are best checked directly before travelling.
Nearby
- San Leucio — about 5 km north of the palace, a planned silk-manufacturing community founded by Ferdinand IV.
- Ponte della Valle — the multi-tiered bridge at Maddaloni carrying the Acquedotto Carolino across a deep valley on its route from the springs near Airola to the palace cascade.
Sources
- UNESCO
- Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici del Casertano
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