1 Main entrance

2 Lower vestibule

3 Main staircase

4 Throne Scale

5 First courtyard

6 Second courtyard

7 Third courtyard

8 Fourth courtyard

MAP OF THE ROYAL PALACE

H ISTORYThe history of the Royal Palace starts on 20th

January 1752.

The project, was realized for the King of

Naples Charles III of Bourbon, by the architect

Luigi Vanvitelli, who followed the works up to

his death, in 1773. The construction of the

interior decoration, the elliptic square and the

lateral areas in front of the Palace were

completed in the first half of the 18th century.

The Bourbons spent a lot of money for the

project, more than 6 millions ducats. The

complex is large and includes a tour of the

Royal Apartments and a tour of the Royal Park.

THE ROYAL PALACE OF CASERTA

Ground f loor

First f loor

Istituto Polispecialistico "San Paolo"

Sede di Massa Lubrense Antonino Esposito4aBM/AFM

THE ROYAL PALACE'S INTERIORS

THE NEW APARTMENT

The Royal Palace has a rectangular plan, 5 floors and 1200 rooms; the visit starts with the Royal Staircase, completely lined with marble and with a large median flight and two parallel lateral flights. On the frontal wall three colossal plaster statues represent the Royal Majesty, the Merit and the Truth. The double elliptic arch is frescoed with The Apollo Royal Palace with four medallions on the sides representing the seasons. From the Superior Vestibule of octagonal shape, you can enter the Royal Apartments and the Palatine Chapel.

THE ROYAL PALACE

THE PALATINE CHAPELThe Chapel structure is similar to the Versailles Palace: Vanvitelli created an original architectonic structure inspired to it but completely new and different. The room was dedicated to the court people and guests, it is located at the same level of the entrance while at a higher level there are the king's and court's tribunes. In the apsidal part the paired columns frame in the center a painting by Giuseppe Bonito, the Immaculate Conception. During the Second World War the majority of the Chapel pictorial decoration was destroyed by a bomb.

THE ANTEROOMS

THE OLD APARTMENT

The first Anterooms have the function of waiting rooms. The Albadieri Room is the first anteroom of the Royal Apartments, frescoed with "Le armi di Casa Borbone"; the second room is called Bodyguards having on the wall twelve bas-reliefs that represent episodes of the Punic War II and a sculpture of Alessandro Farnese crowned by the Victoria. The Alessandro Room is the union element between the Old and New Apartment, it is dedicated to the Macedonian leader and presents on the wall two large canvas and an arch painting of Alessandro's wedding.

In Mars Room the noblemen expected to be received by the king. The room was decorated with nine bas-reliefs representing Iliade's episodes and a central fresco painted by Antonio Galliano in 1815. Next, the Astraea Room, is dedicated to the noblewomen, its main theme is the justice, represented by the arch canvas of the triumph of Astraea and two golden stuccoes bas-reliefs. The majestic Throne Room, opened in 1845, is rich of friezes and golden stuccoes dedicated to the Open Court. the architrave is decorated with forty-six medallions representing the portraits of the King of Naples; the painting in the center of the arch celebrates the laying of the first stone. The Council Room is for the private use of the king, in its arch it is represented Minerva and the Glory of Teseo.

The first four rooms of the eighteenth century Royal Apartments are called Season Rooms; they are frescoed rooms with vivid and imaginative scenes of the four seasons. It follows the Ferdinando IV study, furnished in oriental style and the Salottino frescoed in Pompeian style. Then you find the bedroom of their Majesties, through which you can enter the Private Apartment of the Queen Maria Carolina, with rock decorations. The Venus, in the Toilette Room arch, is frescoed by Fedele Fischetti, who also realized the paintings Golden Age and Aurora.

The library of the palace takes three rooms, that contain more than 14000 volumes and brochures, the last of these is decorated with beautiful paintings by German Fuger, as the Parnaso, the Envy. and the Richness. The Apartment of Gioacchino Murat, appointed by the King in 1808, has a waiting room, a living room and a bedroom furnished in Emperor Style.