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Royal Palace of Caserta

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The imposing bulk of the Palace is preceded by Piazza Carlo III, a large elliptical square adorned with flower beds. It is bordered to the east and west by two large buildings that repeat the progress of the colonnade of the basilica of s. Pietro in Rome. In them some regiments of the Bourbon kingdom were quartered.

From the central gate of the royal palace one enters the vast atrium from which begins the long gallery with three naves that goes up to the park gate. The aisles open onto the four courtyards. The central nave is called "the telescope" due to its resemblance to the aforementioned optical device and the vision that through it has the central axis of the park with its waterfalls and the "tower" that overlooks all of them and from which it flows the water that feeds waterfalls, waterfalls, pools and ponds. On the left of the Atrium there is the ticket office and the bookshop.

In the middle of the "telescope" there is the lower vestibule, which is the center of the ground floor; together with the upper vestibule, to which it is connected with the Grand Staircase, it immediately reveals the genius and perfection of Vanvitellian architecture.
The grand staircase has 116 steps, is adorned with two white marble lions and, on the bottom of the landing, has three statues: in the center the Majesty, on the left the Merit, on the right the Truth. The double elliptical vault is of great effect also because within it the musicians were placed to greet the king and his guests happily during receptions.

At the end you enter the upper vestibule, with the entrance to the royal apartments on the left, opposite the entrance to the Palatine Chapel and to the right the balustrade from which you have a wonderful view, from above, of the grand staircase and a complete enjoyment of the landing of the staircase of honor with the possibility ... to converse with the statues of Majesty, Merit and Truth.
We finally enter the Royal Apartments, which are composed of an eighteenth-century part and a nineteenth-century part, respectively to the left and to the right of the "Sala di Alessandro" which is reached after having crossed the "Hall of the halberdiers" and the "Hall of the guards of body". The Hall of Alexander was used as a throne room by Joachim Murat. This room has, on the left, the entrance to the exhibition of the works that make up the Terrae Motus Collection, performed by more than seventy international artists solicited by Lucio Amelio after the devastation of the 1980 earthquake.

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