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About a month ago we told you about the Gardens of the Royal Palace of Caserta but today we would also like to talk about our visit to the majestic Royal Palace.Yes, a lot of time has passed. but it was not easy to write a post that was not too technical or too boring ( after all we are not experts in history or architecture). We wanted to write an emotional post, as we usually do, but not even to describe the moods and feelings that you feel walking inside the Palace of Caserta and its environments, it was easy. We will then let the images speak giving you some brief hints of history and emotions, in the hope that one day you can visit the Palace or return.
A few days ago, there was talk of nothing but the wedding celebrated at the Palace, used as a large reception villa, for 250 guests at a cost of 30 thousand euros. Beyond any ethical, moral or economic discourse, how much can really be worth this piece of history that UNESCO has declared a World Heritage Site? is really a figure? we do not consider the value of marbles, paintings or carpets but we go beyond… let’s just try to imagine the value of a walk through history, time and space. There is no price, no value that can even approach the immensity of the Royal Palace of Caserta.
The Palace was commissioned by the King of Naples Charles of Bourbon, and his desire was to give his government a seat so beautiful as to match that of Versailles. Luigi Vanvitelli’s project would not disappoint his expectations.
At the entrance, to welcome us curious there is the magnificent royal staircase double ramp where there are also the two famous marble lions. On the ceiling, the magnificent frescoes Le quattro Stagioni and la reggia di Apollo leave you speechless; it is impossible not to notice and to remain in stucco before the statue of Charles of Bourbon, made by Tommaso Solari.
At the end of the double ramp is the access to the Palatine Chapel, inspired by that of the Palace of Versailles;
We proceed to access the actual apartments of the Reggia.
The Hall of Alexander known as Hall of marbles, connects the New Apartment, nineteenth century and the Old Apartment eighteenth century. The 19th century Apartment continues with the Throne Room.
This room was the last to be completed in 1845. The room is about forty meters long and illuminated by large windows. the portable throne is made of golden wood and symbolizes the absolute power. While from the Council Hall you enter the King’s Apartment.
The cribs of the Savoy Princes are both gifts of the city of Naples and wooden models of the rides.
In Francesco II bedroom you can admire the monumental four-poster bed and the Carrara marble toilet in the king’s bathroom.
The eighteenth-century wing of the Palace, is the Old Apartment. Rococo-style environments, with walls covered in silk of San Leucio, Murano chandeliers and many important paintings. We cross the rooms of the Seasons, the rooms of the apartment of Queen Maria Carolina, the rooms of Pius IX and the three rooms of the Palatine Library of which beautiful are the libraries in walnut and mahogany.
From the Library you get to the Elliptical Room, an environment without decorations, but with a particular architecture that served to enhance the acoustics of the room used as a small theater. Now in this room there is the Bourbon Nativity.
Speaking of the crib and its tradition, did you know that Francesco I was a real collector?
The Palace is so immense that it almost seems that a day is not enough to visit it but above all, the time in this building stops; There is no time, day, year, almost you forget to belong to another millennium, everything is so present, so alive. Every room seems to have never lost its ancient splendor, the mind travels and imagines.
Perhaps this is simply the inestimable value we talked about at the beginning of post… It is not the precious tents, the sumptuous floors, the immortal frescoes, the precious wooden furniture; it is his power to be so eternal, so full of life, so resistant to the passing of time.
Charles of Bourbon could never have imagined it, but what he had dreamed of, that Palace which was to be as beautiful as that of Versailles, that building which was to prove its power to the world, became much more. The project of an ambitious sovereign is today a piece of history, admired by the whole of humanity, which has shown over the years all its power and strength, resisting entire pages of history until it itself becomes HISTORY.
The Palace of Caserta is closed on TUESDAY.
The visits are from 8:30 to 19:30. The last entry is at 19:00.
JOIN THE INITIATIVE ON SUNDAYS AT THE MUSEUMON WHICH VISITING THE APARTMENTS WILL BE FREE. The view to the park instead will have a reduced cost of 5 euros.
The standard cost of the ticket is 12,00 euros and allows you to access the park and the English garden. When the Park and the gardens are closed, you can buy the ticket to visit the apartments at a cost of 9.00 euros.
For all the info, visit the OFFICIAL SITE
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