Caserta Palace

Overview

Admire the Caserta Palace complex, a building which, beyond housing the Royal family, accommodates a university, the ministries, a public library, the magistracy, a large theater, a seminary, and a cathedral church;

Tour details

Cumulative ticket:: Storic apartments, exhibition Terrae Motus, Park and English Garden

Reservations must be made with a minimum of 1 day notice.
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Before making your reservation, please, read the Ordering Informations

IMPORTANT NOTICE: After successfully completing a reservation, you will receive two e- mails: the copy of your order (immediately after submitting your order) and the confirmation mail (one working day after). In order to receive them, please make sure you insert your e-mail address correctly and check that your anti-spam filter or anti virus are not blocking mails from our address reservations@waf.it. Special attention for AOL mailbox users.

PLEASE NOTICE: Confirmed time is not always the same time you requested; museum automatically confirms the closest available time on the same date if requested time is sold out.

Closed on Tuesday, January 1st and December 25th

Opening hours:
Apartments: 8:30 - 19:00; last entrance: 18:30

Exhibition: 9:00 - 18:00 guided visit by museum's assistants each hour

Park and Garden:
- January, February, November and December: 8:30 - 14:30
- March: 8:30 - 16:00
- April 8:30 - 17:00
- May and September: 8:30 - 17:30
- June, July and August: 8:30 - 18:00
- October: 8:30 - 16:30
The English garden closes one hour before the last entrance to the Park

WHISPER SERVICE:
According to instructions by the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, visitors in group over 12 people are due to get whispers for their visit before entering the museum. Whispers can be gotten next to the cashier or at the cashier itself. Payment must be made to the cashier (Euro 1.80 for each member of the group, despite age, citizenship or profession; Euro 1.20 for each member of school groups; whispers for tourist guides from Campania are free).

Cancellation Policy:
For cancellations once a confirmation code has been assigned to the reservation, up to 2 days before the date of the visit, we can refund cost of unused tickets minus service fee (reservation fee and online booking fee). For further cancellations and no shows, no refund is possible.

Details

The ruling classes of eighteenth century Europe constituted a single nation whose homogeneity had not been equaled in preceding centuries. From Paris to Saint Petersburg, from Berlin to Naples, clear signs of this are found in customs such as the universal diffusion of the French language, in the sophistication of the aristocracy and the intellectual classes, as well as the philosophy of the Enlightenment, the sovereign courts and cultivation of the arts, or in the Masonic orders. Symbols of regal patronage and splendor, the palaces survived revolutions, bombardment and neglect, and thus represent the most tangible element of the grandness which desired and lived in them.

Following the death of the Emperor Charles VI, a new war broke out and the capital found itself under pressure from the English fleet which wished to obtain the neutrality of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Within the king's heart the need grew greater to construct a new capital ar from the sea, but not too distant from Naples. The place best suited to this end was a plain ground at the foot of the Tifatini Mountains, a property of the Counts of Caserta, staunch adversaries of the Bourbons, which the king initially acquired as hunting lodge. Having chosen the locations, it remained to find an architect able to realize a building which, beyond housing the Royal family, could accommodate a university, the ministries, a public library, the magistracy, a large theater, a seminary, and a cathedral church; certainly, in the conception of "his" palace, the king's thoughts raced to the wonderful Versailles court where he had spent many memorable times as guest of the French court. Charles conferred the task upon Vanvitelli, architect at St Peter's, after having requested the consent of Pope Benedict XIV.

The plan presented by Vanvitelli on sixteen tables engraved on copper does not only include the Royal Palace and its dependencies, but outlines the plan and physiognomy of the new city which was supposed to rise beside it. It marks the streets connecting the nearby villages, and traces the backbone of the the project, (p.17 Guida 060) the Gran Viale between Naples and the great waterfall that gushes from the hillside of Briano, intending to make an virtual connection between the new capital and the far away metropolis. The road was to pass through the Royal Palace, the point of reference and unit of measure for a composition without confines, it being dominated by the building's squared bulk and volumetric grandeur. The Palace was linked symbolically to Naples by the white ribbon which starts from the waterfall and seems to mark the route taken by the water to reach the capital. The Viale was supposed to be skirted by streams, derived from the Caroline Aqueduct, but this was never realized.

The San Leucio Hill is situated to the north east of the built up Caserta area. The Belvedere Palace of San Leucio, with views extending to the sea, was already described in the survey of the assets of the princess Anna Acquaviva in 1635. A genuine castle, it boasts frescoes, marbles, arcades and laurel and citrus adorned loggias, linked by the gardens, woods, the countryside and neighboring vineyards, with some areas reserved for hunting. King Charles had in fact established a wild boar hunting reserve, but it was his successor Ferdinand IV who decided the destiny of these places where he had spent his childhood. He had other territories appended to it and ordered the construction of a small building that would offer repose to the hunters: the Vaccheria, in which a veiling works was established, with craftsmen brought in from Piedmonte.

Unfortunately, the death on this site of the heir to the throne, Charles Titus spurred the royal family to abandon it and transfer the activity and the craftsmen to the Belvedere. The Collecini project, (he had already collaborated with Vanvitelli in the construction of the Royal Palace) anticipated the construction of a real and true industrial city; Ferdinandopoli, with factories, the creation of entire residents' quarters for the workers, the great silk piazza at the center and the intensive cultivation of the arable areas. But the French occupation would put the project into crisis and San Leucio would not become this modern industrial city. Of the original plans, the living quarters were completed, (one of the first examples of terraced housing), the House of San Silvestro, the Vaccheria and the road network system.

The Carditello site dates back to the decision of King Charles to establish a stud farm in the feud belonging to the Count of Acerra. It was only during the reign of his son Ferdinand that Collecini was charged with the task, in 1787, of designing the building which would have the double function of a royal "refuge" during the hunt, and an agricultural concern. To Ferdinand's mind, Carditello served to demonstrate his support for the old agricultural methods, while San Leucio was supposed to represent the push towards the new model of industrial development, derived from Enlightenment ideas, which would work for the benefit of the people.

Prices

Tickets:

Full price

Reduced price:
- between 18 and 25 years old
- school teachers from the European Union with permanent contract

Free:
- European Community citizens under 18 and over 65 years old. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
- tourist guides in action, showing a valid license given by the authority
- tourist interpreters joining a tourist guide, showing a valid license given by the authority
- staff of Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali;
- International Council of Museums (ICOM) members
- Italian and European Union school groups guided by their teachers, upon reservation, at time established by museum
- teachers and students of Universities of: Architecture, Cultural Goods Preservation, Formation Sciences and Literature or historic and archaeological courses of Italian Universities and Academies of Fine Arts.

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