With its 1,200 rooms, 1,742 windows and 123 hectares of gardens, the castle wanted by Charles of Bourbon, King of Naples and great-grandson of Louis XIV, was built from 1752 under the direction of the brilliant architect Luigi Vanvitelli, who died exactly 250 years ago.

But the unification of Italy at the end of the nineteenth century, which saw the Savoy dynasty of Piedmont "annex" the south of the peninsula, had plunged this site classified since 1997 as a UNESCO heritage site into a long lethargy, punctuated by more or less happy conversions, such as hosting the headquarters of the Allied forces during the Second World War.

Aerial view of the royal residence of Caserta, near Naples, on May 12, 2023 in Italy © Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Renovation of facades, repair of alleys and railings, restoration of gardens: remedying the ravages of time has been a titanic task, rewarded last week with a third star in the prestigious Michelin Green Guide dedicated to Southern Italy.

The palace "has been remarkably restored: the facades have been restored, the cultural mediation has really been improved with hangings of works of contemporary art, there are visits also in the evening, there are animations at Christmas," said AFP Philippe Orain, director of the Green Guides who came to see the progress made.

This third star propels Caserta and its wonderful perspective, surmounted by an artificial waterfall more real than life, at the archaeological site of Pompeii.

"This is a recognition that, we hope, will allow us to make ourselves known to the whole of Europe and the whole world," said the director of the palace, Tiziana Maffei, in an interview with AFP.

One of the fountains at the royal residence in Caserta, near Naples, on May 12, 2023 in Italy © Andreas SOLARO / AFP

A visibility echoing the design of its creators, for whom this palace "built on the idea of French greatness" and where Queen Marie-Caroline, sister of Marie-Antoinette, lived, was to be "an expression of power but also of cultural prestige," she recalls.

'Mission impossible'

The work undertaken to restore the palace to its original beauty requires tens of millions of euros, including 25 million under the mega-plan launched by Brussels to revive the economy of the Old Continent and of which Italy is the main beneficiary.

"This is very little compared to the problems of the palace of Caserta, but it will help us to face the restoration of the aqueduct" carrying over forty km the water necessary for fountains, canals and basins.

The Grand Staircase of Honor of the royal residence of Caserta, near Naples, on May 12, 2023 in Italy © Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Tiziana Maffei also takes advantage of the filming of films or series taking place at the palace. She cites in particular "the case of the stage curtain" of the palace theater, a painted scene whose restoration was "financed by Tom Cruise during the filming of +Mission Impossible+".

These shootings ("Star Wars", the series "The Great" about Catherine of Russia ...) contribute as well to the visibility of this site resulting from the "dream of a king" as to "share the beauty of this place", she says.

The all-out efforts to restore the royal residence to its luster seem to be appreciated by visitors, including Terry Thompson, an English woman in her fifties from Barrow-in-Furness who came with her husband.

The theater of the royal residence of Caserta, near Naples, on May 12, 2023 in Italy © Andreas SOLARO / AFP

"Yesterday we were in Rome and we went to the Vatican and I can honestly say that here it is as beautiful, if not more beautiful," she enthuses. "It's absolutely superb: the colors, the paintings, the ceilings, the gilding... definitely worth a visit."

The grand staircase of honor, debauchery of marble of gigantic proportions, leaves the public amazed by its magnificence.

It is surmounted by a double elliptical ceiling where an orchestra could be housed out of sight to accompany the arrival of distinguished guests with music.

Among the illustrious characters who frequented this enchanting place are of course a string of crowned heads, including Napoleon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, King of Naples from 1808 to 1815, but also the great German writer Goethe.

The "Palatine Library" of the royal residence of Caserta, near Naples, on May 12, 2023 in Italy © Andreas SOLARO / AFP

This precursor of romanticism will undoubtedly have appreciated the bucolic atmosphere of the English garden, which among its 200 species includes one of the first magnolias acclimatized in Europe as well as a cedar of Lebanon of impressive dimensions, not to mention the Bath of Venus, a small lake surrounded by fake Roman ruins.

© 2023 AFP