The Royal Palace of Caserta represents the largest royal residence in the world by volume. Its complex constitutes one of the Italian state museums which, in 2016, was granted special autonomy by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities. If you want more information before your visit reggiacaserta.org which will allow you to find out everything there is to know. Today we will take you to discover what you need to know about the Royal Palace of Caserta.
History
The royal palace of Caserta was commissioned by the king of Naples, Charles of Bourbon, in fierce competition with the French royal family: the sovereign wanted, in fact, to build a palace that could challenge Versailles for grandeur and grandeur.
King Charles of Bourbon, to achieve his goal, turned to the architect Luigi Vanvitelli, who came to Caserta in 1751 and immediately began the design of the building. The first stone was laid the following year during a solemn ceremony. Considered the last great conquest of the Italian Baroque, the Royal Palace of Caserta was completed in 1845.
The Royal Palace
The Royal Palace at the Royal Palace of Caserta includes 1,200 rooms and 1,742 windows. The main facade has a central vestibule surmounted by a pediment. On the sides of the façade two other first floors are fixed to each other, while the southern side is decorated with twelve columns.
The entire building covers an area of approximately 47,000 square meters and has approximately 1,026 funnels and 34 stairways. The large Palatine Chapel is inspired by the Palace of Versailles. La Quadreria is a space where the works of the most diverse artists are found: in eight rooms there are paintings by Michele Scaroin, Salvator Rosa, a collection of portraits of the Bourbons and European courts, and works by the best students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples.
The park
The Royal Palace of Caserta, the most imposing of all the Palaces of Campania, is majestic from the park which extends for over 3 kilometers and extends for over 120 hectares. The fountains that connect it with the English garden from the northern end of the Italian garden are very suggestive.
Inside the park we find: Margherita’s Fountain; swimming pool and dolphin fountain; Aeolus pool and fountain; Ceres pool and fountain; Cascatelle and the Fountain of Venus and Adonis and the Fountain of Diana and Atteone, dominated by the Great Waterfall.
Curiosity
The total expense for the construction of the Royal Palace of Caserta, completed in 1845, was 8,711,000 ducats.
In the elliptical room there is also the royal crib, set in the elliptical room of the palace. Inaugurated by Karol Burboński, it was later taken over by his successors, in particular Francis I, a great lover of nativity scenes. Director George Lucas chose the Royal Palace of Caserta to shoot several scenes of the films “The Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones”, which are part of the “Star Wars” saga.
The artificial basins of the Park of the Royal Palace of Caserta are inhabited by numerous fish, mainly carp and crucian carp. More than 300 hidden objects belonging to marbles and statues have been found in the secret path behind the Aeolus Fountain.
