La Reggia di Caserta

In 1734 Carlo of Bourbon, 18 years old and son of Filippo V of Spain, became the King of the two Sicilies, autonomous kingdom and not any longer under the Spanish hegemony.
The reforming activity of the new king found expression especially in the urbanistic field; in fact, the new routes of development for the city of Naples were traced and the great royal places of Capodimonte and Portici were built, and contemporarily the territorial position of royal residences for  hunting and other productive activities was reorganized.
In 1750 the danger of having Naples bombarded by the English fleet and the inadequacy of the Neapolitan royal palace made the king decide to build a new royal residence, to be placed in the centre of a well -organized town able to become the new capital of the kingdom.
He chose a place in the ancient estate in Michelangelo Gaetani di Sermoneta's possession, called village Torre, at the foot of Tifantini hills.
Luigi Vanvitelli was nominated creator of this building. He was an architect with Dutch origins, but Neapolitan by birth, and Roman by education.
After the enthusiastic approval of the plans by the royal family, on the 20th January 1752 the great ceremony of laying the foundation stone   was celebrated in presence of all kingdom's authorities, of the architect and of the royal regiments placed according to the plant of the building to be done.
After the accession  to the throne in 1759 of Ferdinando IV the building was at its second floor, when the architect died in 1773, and the work continued until the end of the century.
The task of finishing the building and to define its garden, still only a project, was given to Carlo Vanvitelli, son of Luigi.
A total umber of 1200 rooms with 1970 windows and 34 stairs ; an immense garden, as far as the eye can see, extending for 3 kilometres, full of fountains and statues, with a background of artificial falls on sloping levels; part of the park is the very beautiful English garden. The royal palace covers an area of 44.000 square kilometres and it cost about 6 millions of ducats.  
The result is astonishing for its harmonious perfection and the magnificence of the building.
Besides the royal palace, Vanvitelli furthermore projected, with the help of two assistants, the 40 kilometres long conduct which had to transport water from the source of the Taburno river to the majestic garden.
The original project, published by Vanvitelli in the Declaration of Plans in 1756 shows the building in the centre of an ideal town  connected by straight alleys to the royal sites in the Province and crossed by a central axe reaching the back standing  hills.
The whole building remembers the great Roman architecture, which Vanvitelli knew profoundly, for the use of materials and its dimensions.
Originally a central dome, which was never realized, framed by four angular towers was thought to be  the background of an equestrian statue of Carlo placed on the top of the front.
Inside, the vaulted portico connects the three octagonal vestibules leading to the entrance of the four courts characterized by niches and great angular apses.
The majestic central staircase, remembering the analogous realizations in the Spanish royal palaces, connects the central vestibule with the superior hall, the building's real heart and distributive junction.
Here the scenic character of the Vanvitelli's architecture find one of  its moments of main power in the alternation of columns and pillars according to a dynamism of shapes and light culminating in the spiral designed on the central vault.
The hall leads to the chapel of the Court, similar to the one in Versailles according to the king's express wish, the building's real precious casket, full of marbles and golden decorations.
Then  follow the royal rooms divided into an old apartment (end of 18th century) and a new apartment (beginning on the 19th century).
After the first rooms of the Halberdiers and Life Guards follow the hall of Alexander and then the Hall of the throne and a series of lounges and rooms with Empire style furniture.  The wing of the 17th century, instead, is a real museum of artistic Neapolitan handicrafts at the end of the 18th century.
In this wing reception halls with four seasons inspired frescos succeed to very rich decorated lounges.
Another of the building's jewels is the court theatre, the only work finished by Vanvitelli.
Twelve alabaster columns support the ribbed vault and under it are disposed a series of boxes decorated with putti "angels" and flower garlands.