The palace gardens are worth a visit alone, stretching over 3km in a baroque spectacle of fountains and pools. Prepare to swoon.

Caserta is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial and industrial comune and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Campanian Subapennine mountain range. The city is best known for the Royal Palace of Caserta.

Caserta is one of the most particular beauties of Campania, a stone’s throw from Naples, it is one of the best legacies left by the Bourbon dynasty on the Campania soil. Known throughout the world and with several UNESCO heritage sites, Caserta is one of the places you can’t help but visit if you are in Naples.His is an ancient history, but also often troubled, populated by the Samnites in Roman times, passing through the Lombards, was sold by the Angevins to the Bourbons who made his fortune, in fact, despite having been torn apart during the Second World War, the Caserta’s greatest beauties date back to the Bourbon period.

HIGLIGHTS

The one compelling reason to visit the town of Caserta, 30km north of Naples, is to gasp at the World Heritage–listed Reggia di Caserta. The former palace is the largest in the world by volume, and its 18th- and 19th-century Royal Apartments are a breathtaking sweep of marble, frescoes, monumental paintings and period furnishings.

Caserta is located 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Naples. Its municipality borders with Capua, Casagiove, Casapulla, Castel Morrone, Curti, Limatola (BN), Maddaloni, Marcianise, Recale, San Felice a Cancello, San Marco Evangelista, San Nicola la Strada, San Prisco, Sant’Agata de’ Goti (BN), Santa Maria Capua Vetere and Valle di Maddaloni.

Frazioni

• Casertavecchia is the ancient centre of the comune and former bishopric seat.
• San Leucio resort, seat of famous Royal silk workshops, also included in the World Heritage List.
• Vaccheria, which housed the stable of the Royal cattle.
• Falciano is a former bishop seat; it includes a 16th-century palace.
• Piedimonte di Casolla has an ancient Benedictine abbey, built over a Roman temple dedicated to Diana.
• Other “Frazioni”: Aldifreda, Briano, Casola, Casolla, Centurano, Ercole, Garzano, Mezzano, Pozzovetere, Puccianiello, Sala di Caserta, San Benedetto, San Clemente, Santa Barbara, Staturano, Tredici, Tuoro.

Main sights

• Caserta’s main attraction is its Royal Palace (listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The royal palace (“Reggia”) was designed in the 18th century by the Italian architect Luigi Vanvitelli, recalling Versailles, as a residence for the Bourbon kings of Naples and Sicily.

As one of the most visited monuments in Italy, the palace has more than 1200 rooms, decorated in various styles. It has been the set for several famous movies such as Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Angels & Demons and Mission: Impossible III. The park is 2 miles (3.2 km) long and contains many waterfalls, lakes and gardens, as well as a very famous English garden.

• Palazzo Vecchio (“Old Palace”), a construction of the 14th century renovated by Luigi Vanvitelli as provisional residence for the royal court.
• The cathedral (1800s).
• The Aqueduct of Vanvitelli (18th century).

Caserta Royal Palace and Park, Italy

Caserta, ItalyCombining the influences of Versailles, Rome, and Tuscany, the Caserta Royal Palace and Park, north of Naples, was designed according to the wishes of Charles of Bourbon III by Luigi Vanvitelli, one of the greatest Italian architects of the 18th century. Caserta is considered a triumph of Italian Baroque, and ahead of its time. Expanding across 11 acres, the garden’s pools, fountains and cascades are aligned through a ‘telescope effect’, extending as far as the eye can see.

Piazzas

• Piazza Matteotti is one of oldest squares in the city, it is called “Piazza Mercato” (Market Square) by Casertani, because there is the daily market in a building inaugurated in 2008.
• Piazza Vanvitelli is the main square in the city. The square once included Palazzo Castropignano but this was subsequently replaced by a modern palace in the early 1960s. The seat of the municipality of Caserta, Palazzo Acquaviva lies within Piazza Vanvitelli as well as the offices of Questura and Prefettura of the Province of Caserta and various banks, shops, hotels and bars. At the center of the square there is a statue of Luigi Vanvitelli, the architect who designed the Royal Palace of Caserta.