The town of Caserta is about a 30 minute train ride from Naples. Its main distinction is a royal palace built under Bourbon rule during the late 1700's, under the leadership of King Charles III and King Ferdinand I of Naples.
Four hundred slaves were used to build it. During the Bourbon years, it was used for balls, receptions and performances. It has 1200 rooms, 43 staircases, 5 stories, and surrounds four courtyards. It is nearly the length of three football fields. It also happened to be the site of the unconditional surrender of the Nazi German forces in Italy in April, 1945.
The royal palace at Caserta is Italy's answer to the Palace of Versailles in France. But of course, both palaces were built under the same royal house. Although the Bourbon dynasty was Spanish, many of the individual royals within it, by my recollection, were French.
The palace is filled with artwork reflective of the time. The Bourbons were collectors of fine art, and Naples had a special role in the generation of these pieces, especially during the early Renaissance. The city of Naples itself has at least a couple of other reminders of Bourbon rule-- the Palazzo Reale, and the Capodimente Art Museum, which was also formerly a palace. Both are open to tourists. Again, Naples was still a very important city during the reign of the Bourbons-- indeed, the second largest city in Europe.
Compared to Versailles-- which is impeccable-- Caserta is not as well maintained or furnished. Whereas the grounds at Versailles are lavish and manicured to perfection, the grounds and gardens at Caserta, while very extensive, are more limited because all areas are not fully utilized. Large portions appear to have been converted to a public park, because many locals use the grounds for recreational purposes.
Nonetheless, Caserta is an impressive edifice, and worthy of a visit. Click the photographs to enlarge and obtain better clarity.
Below is a picture of the front of the palace, which unfortunately includes the author of this blog.
Below is a view of the ground floor from which one enters the palace:
And of course, the main staircase:
The sense of scale with respect to living space in this type of edifice is entirely distorted:
And, of course, no royal palace is complete without a throne:
There are many rooms, furnishings and pieces of art, but here is a small sample, including a mug shot of King Charles:
The backyard is extensive, and encompasses several kilometers:
Tomorrow, Pozzuoli.
What a pleasant surprise. As you recall I blew off Naples on my trip to Italy last summer. Looks like I made a mistake. Thanks. Enjoying you travellogue
Posted by: Fred Gregory | June 23, 2007 at 07:51 PM
Thanks again, Fred. And to think-- this palace was brought to us by the same crowd that gave us Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | June 23, 2007 at 08:12 PM
And screwed the Sicilians royaly..and you wonder why Sicilians destest Neopalitans? Number one reason Neoplaitans can not belong to Mafia...Boni cosi, cari saluti di Palermo...
Posted by: Ninu | June 23, 2007 at 10:05 PM
Ninu, the reign of the Kingdom of Naples over southern Italy and Sicily, whether it was under the Normans or the Aragons or the Bourbons, victimized the common people under the system of feudalism that existed. I agree that Sicilians were victimized, but also the commoners (peasants) throughout southern Italy, even including those in Campania. And when Italy was finally unified around 1870, with all the promise it could have represented, things actually got worse for these people-- not better.
That is a part of the story I was intending to tell later.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | June 23, 2007 at 10:47 PM
Well, actually, Austria gave the French Marie ( Maria ) Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa. Her portrits are all over the Schonbrunn and Hofburg Imperial Palaces.
Posted by: Fred Gregory | June 24, 2007 at 01:37 AM
Glad you made it to the palace. It is an awesome sight. It'll be a while before I ever get there.
Posted by: Jim Caserta | June 24, 2007 at 07:45 AM
Fred, you're right. I believe members of the royal families in Europe at the time moved about and intermarried quite a bit.
Thanks, Jim. And folks, just to set the record straight, there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that the royal palace was named after Jim and his family.
Seriously, Jim has previously advised that he may have some roots in the vicinity of Caserta.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | June 24, 2007 at 12:37 PM
Was it not a tradition for Italian immigrants to take as their surname the name of the town or area their family was from?
Or was that an invention of Coppola's for "The Godfather, Part 2"?
Posted by: Bubba | June 24, 2007 at 05:56 PM
Bubba, I am not completely sure, but I think that may have happened sometimes. On the other hand, the converse is not necessarily true-- I have known some folks whose surname is also the name of a town or city, and they do not have any roots in that town or city.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | June 24, 2007 at 09:18 PM
The Godfather was on TV the other night, so I got to thinking about that again. In the movie Vito is 5 or 6 and doesn't really understand what's happening, while my great-grandparents, I believe, were married adults when they came to the US. I figure they'd be less likely to let their name be changed.
Posted by: Jim Caserta | June 25, 2007 at 06:56 AM