The Park of the Royal Palace of Caserta

The Park of the Royal Palace of Caserta was born by the will of King Charles of Bourbon. As soon as you enter the palace you can immediately admire the characteristic “telescope effect” created by Luigi Vanvitelli, and notice in the distance the magnificent scenery of the Royal Park which extends in length for over 3km The park contains not only the central axis with the fountains, but the Bosco Vecchio and the Real Pineta, the English Garden, the San Silvestro forest estate and, nearby, also the Belvedere di San Leucio, without forgetting the 38km of the Caroline Aqueduct.

Initially born as the Italian equivalent of the park of Versailles, the park of the Royal Palace of Caserta has the unique feature of condensing in a single park the remains of a Renaissance garden (Bosco Vecchio) the style of Italian gardens with groves and fountains (that of Versailles is an evolution of the Italian Renaissance garden), and of the romantic English garden. Initially designed by Luigi Vanvitelli, it was later modified by his son Carlo who inherited the yard after his father’s death. Carlo, both for the new fashion of the landscape garden, and for strong cuts to the funds decided by the new king Ferdinand of Bourbon, modified and reduced his father’s original project by merging the formal garden with the landscape one, and adding the English Garden to it. A further feature of the park of Caserta is the management of the water, as the fountains are not fed by a water recirculation system that works only if activated, but gush in a natural and continuous way thanks to the incredible work of the 38km of the Caroline Aqueduct which feeds the Palace and all the surrounding area.