Every design for Caserta

Stand by the Cascata dei Delfini in the gardens of the Reggia di Caserta, the Bourbon royal palace, and the scale of the place sinks in. The palace and its gardens are the reason most visitors come, and with the Belvedere di San Leucio and the Carolino aqueduct they form a World Heritage Site.

Caserta sits on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the hills, north of Naples, and that position shaped it. The Bourbons wanted a palace inland, safer than one facing the bay. The old town of Casertavecchia, with its medieval lanes and Romanesque cathedral, stayed up on the hillside, while the population moved down to the plain. San Leucio, once home to royal silk workshops, and the abbey of San Pietro ad Montes at Piedimonte are part of the same municipality. Everyday life happens between the palace, the shops of the centre and the busy roads out to Marcianise and Santa Maria Capua Vetere.

Say Caserta anywhere in Italy and people picture the Reggia. Say it at home and it means the walk past the palace, the Fontana di Eolo and the hills above, exactly where you left them.