Royal Palace of Caserta, Italy

The Royal Palace of Caserta is a former royal residence located in Caserta in southern Italy. It was built by the Bourbon dynasty of the Kingdom of Naples. It is the largest palace building in the world and one of the largest buildings in Europe in the 18th century. The 18th-century Caserta Royal Palace and Gardens, the Vanvitelli Aqueduct and the San Leggio Complex were designated as a World Cultural Heritage in 1997. On August 29, 1750, Charles III purchased the territory of Caserta from the Acquaviva family to build a royal palace that would rival or even surpass the Palace of Versailles in France, the Schönbrunn Palace in Austria, and the Würzburg Palace in Germany. Another major aim of Charles III was to re-establish a grand new royal court and administrative centre for the kingdom in a location that was protected from naval attack and away from the rebellious and overcrowded Naples. It will house not only the king and members of the royal family, but also the main political and cultural elite of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, including a university, museums, libraries, offices for cabinet members and senior military officials. In order to provide the king with adequate protection, military barracks will also be housed in the palace. The main architects of the time were taken into consideration for the design of the new palace: Mario Giofredo, architect of Palazzo Partana and Palazzo Avrito in Naples, Ferdinando Fuga, architect of Palazzo Consutta, Palazzo Quirinale and Palazzo Corsini in Rome, Luigi Vanvitelli, co-designer of the Trevi Fountain (Trevi Fountain) in Rome and of the Pentagonal Lazzaretto in Ancona, and Nicola Salvi, another co-designer of the Trevi Fountain. Eventually the task was given to Luigi Vanvitelli. The project involved the construction of the palace, a large royal garden and water features including a series of fountains, as well as the study of water supply solutions for the future palace and the development of the town to the south of the palace. When Charles III saw the large model of the palace and garden designed by Vanvitelli according to his wishes, he was so shocked that he could not express it in words. At that moment, he felt that his heart was about to jump out. The palace is 247 meters long, 184 meters wide and 41 meters high; it has five floors, over 1 million cubic meters, covers an area of ​​47,000 square meters, has a construction area of ​​235,000 square meters, and is divided into 1,200 rooms. The Royal Palace of Caserta is the largest royal residence in the world in terms of volume. The design of the complex ingeniously combines luxurious palaces and their gardens, natural forests, hunting lodges and industrial facilities for silk production. All this strongly proves the argument that it is far better to perfectly integrate material forms with natural landscapes than to impose material forms on natural landscapes. The design of the palace flower arrangement was inspired by the Palace of Versailles in France and the Granja de San Ildefonso Palace in Spain. The gardens cover an area of ​​120 hectares and are approximately 3 km long, with water brought into the pools and fountains via the Gallino Aqueduct. The Bosco Vecchio on the left side of the gardens is preserved, which was part of the Renaissance gardens of the Acquaviva family and a place for entertainment and leisure for monarchs and princes. The long central avenue leads to the Margarita Fountain, along the hillside, from which two semi-elliptical side slopes branch out. It is arranged along the famous "waterway" on a north-south axis. The fountain design here is inspired by classical mythological themes and features seven sloping pools that form numerous waterfalls. The series of four fountains are as follows: the Fountain of Ceres (Fig. 8), the hounds chasing Actaon who was transformed into a stag by Diana's curse (Fig. 9), and this one is located at the bottom of a large artificial waterfall, which is the hub of the entire scene system. There are also the Fountain of Cupid, Venus and Adonis (Figure 10) and the Fountain of Diana and Ateone, a work by Paolo Persico from 1771 (Figure 11). With the laying of the first stone of the palace on 20 January 1752, construction proceeded at an extremely rapid pace until Charles III left Caserta for Spain in 1759, when the pace of construction on the complex slowed significantly, so that after Luigi Vanvitelli's death in 1773 it was still far from complete. Luigi's son Carlo Vanvitelli and other architects followed in the next century to complete this magnificent royal residence. Your original model will always be a model and will never be fully realized in reality. The last picture is an oil painting inside the royal palace, showing Ferdinand IV and Pope Clement XIII. #worldheritage #worldheritage #overseastravel #royalpalace #palace #europetravel #europetravel #italytravel #caserta #statue #fountainpark #oilpainting