Königspalast Caserta — Das Versailles Italiens
The Palazzo Reale di Caserta (the Royal Palace of Caserta — the UNESCO World Heritage Site Bourbon royal palace 30 km north of Naples, the largest royal residence in the world by volume (the palace of 1,200 rooms, 1,790 windows, and 34 staircases, built 1752-1847 for the Bourbon Kings of the Two Sicilies to the design of the architect Luigi Vanvitelli) and the park (the English and Italian formal gardens extending 3 km behind the palace, with the spectacular cascade that falls 75 metres over the hillside).
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Reggia di Caserta — The Versailles of Italy
The Reggia di Caserta (Caserta, 30km north of Naples, train 35 minutes from Naples Centrale, UNESCO) is the largest royal palace by volume in the world — 1,200 rooms, 5 hectares of floor space, 4 main staircases, 34 state apartments; commissioned by Charles III of Bourbon in 1752 (Luigi Vanvitelli architect), it served as Allied headquarters in WWII (Eisenhower's desk is in Room 22); the park (3km long cascade from an aqueduct 40km away, terminal fountain 78m wide) takes 3 hours to walk.
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The Grand Staircase and Royal Apartments
The Reggia's ceremonial staircase (Scalone d'Onore) is the most dramatic interior in southern Italy — from the vestibule, two symmetrical flights of marble stairs rise to the upper vestibule under an octagonal dome; the state apartments (38 rooms) display the Bourbon royal collection of paintings (including a suite of rooms with Flemish tapestries commissioned in Brussels and covering floor-to-ceiling of three rooms); the Throne Room (Room 34) is the palace's grandest space; audio guide included in €16 entry.
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Caserta Vecchia — The Medieval Town Abandoned
Caserta Vecchia (8km above Caserta, accessible by bus or taxi) is the medieval predecessor of Caserta — the town (population 400) was largely abandoned after Vanvitelli's palace development drew the population to the plain; the Cathedral of San Michele (1153, Norman-Arab, the most important Norman church in Campania outside Palermo) has a 13th-century apse tower with interlocking arches; the deserted medieval streets and views from 400m over the modern city make it the region's most evocative heritage site.
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Palazzo Reale di Naples — The Royal Palace on the Piazza del Plebiscito
The Royal Palace of Naples (Palazzo Reale, Piazza del Plebiscito, 1600, Domenico Fontana, the primary Bourbon royal residence until 1861) occupies the entire western side of the piazza — the 8 niches in the facade each hold a statue of a King of Naples (from Roger II Norman to Victor Emmanuel II of unified Italy); the interior (42 rooms, National Museum) displays the Bourbon state art collection; the historic Teatro di San Carlo (adjacent, 1737, oldest continuously operating opera house in the world, tours daily) shares the complex.
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The Bourbon Tunnel — Naples' Underground Escape Route
The Bourbon Tunnel (Vico del Grottone 4, Chiaia, beneath the Piazza del Plebiscito) is a 17th-century royal escape route commissioned by Ferdinand II in 1853 — the tunnel (500m long, 15m below street level) was designed to allow the royal family to escape from the palace to the sea in case of revolution; the tunnel was used as a WWII air raid shelter (graffiti and original furniture survive from 1943), then as a motor vehicle impound until 2005; guided tours (€10, 1 hour) include the original lighting.
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Pietrarsa Railway Museum — The First Railway in Italy
The Pietrarsa National Railway Museum (Portici, 10km east of Naples, accessible from Naples Porta Nolana station) occupies the former royal railway workshops (1840) where the locomotives for Italy's first railway (Naples–Portici, 1839, the first railway on the Italian peninsula) were manufactured — the museum (the largest railway museum in Europe by area) displays original Bourbon-era locomotives, royal train carriages, and the history of Italian rail engineering; the workshop buildings are early industrial architecture.