Of all the splendid works and constructions by which the Bourbon dynasty embellished and modernised the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the pride is the universally famous and appreciated Palace of Caserta. As everybody knows, it was designed and mostly built by the Dutch architect Ludwig Van Wittel, who received the Italian onomatopoeic name of Vanvitelli.

Facade looking on to the garden

He was called to Naples by King Charles, who, as real grandchild of the Roi Soleil, wanted to build a new Royal Palace, a “residence” fit for a Bourbon King and his Court. He wanted that because he wanted to have a royal palace not in Naples but very close to Naples (and in this we find a clear allusion to Versailles), but mainly because the new palace - in the King’s intentions - had to be the most beautiful and largest royal palace in the world after Versailles, a pride for the new Kingdom he had conquered and a further evidence of his willingness to make this Kingdom an independent and sovereign one.

Over the years, in fact, King Charles personally followed the work together with the Queen and they both were Vanvitelli’s inspirers, however without modifying the original design of the great architect. It was an excellent “union of souls”: evidence of this is given by Vanvitelli himself, in his periodic letters to his brother, where he always expressed his joy for the attention that the two Sovereigns paid to his work and for the good understanding that made the work progress quickly and with great profit.

Quick view of the Palace

In fact, after the Sovereign left for Madrid in 1759, things never went as before and Vanvitelli always recalled the happy days of the ‘50s, sometimes with a bitter regret. His expressions of regret for the absence of the “Catholic King” every time he completed a new part of the Palace (for instance the wonderful gardens) are famous; one day he said:«The construction work is going well, but what for? If the Catholic King were here it would be good, now it is nothing» .

Perspective view of the spyglass arcade

The situation even worsened when Tanucci took control of the Kingdom and cut the money available to Vanvitelli. In fact, if in the ‘50s some 2000 workers were employed in the construction, in the ‘60s their number was halved. Despite that, he continued with the same passion and commitment; in 1766 Galiani arrived in Caserta. Galiani was the Secretary of the Neapolitan Embassy in Paris and, noticing that the work had almost been completed, he openly praised the work and even said that the gardens were more beautiful and perfumed than those of Versailles. Vanvitelli, who by then was 65 and very sick and was thinking of leaving the conclusion of this work to his son Charles, was overjoyed in hearing this.

Then in 1767 the Vesuvius gave him a hand: after a violent eruption, the young King Ferdinand IV decided to move the Court from Portici to Caserta and therefore he resumed his work in a more active way until his death in 1773; his son took over where he left, but changes were made until 1920.