Palace of Caserta; Ischia Surroundings

The Royal Palace of Caserta (Italian: Reggia di Caserta) is a former royal residence in Caserta, few hours from Ischia, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It is one of the largest palaces erected in Europe during the 18th century. In 1997, the palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site; its nomination described it as "the swan song of the spectacular art of the Baroque, from which it adopted all the features needed to create the illusions of multidirectional space". In terms of volume, the Royal Palace of Caserta is the largest royal residence in the world with over 2 million m³ and covering an area of about 235,000 m².

The construction of the palace was begun in 1752 for Charles VII of Naples, who worked closely with his architect, Luigi Vanvitelli. When Charles saw Vanvitelli's grandly scaled model for Caserta, it filled him with emotion "fit to tear his heart from his breast". In the end, he never slept a night at the Reggia, as he abdicated in 1759 to become King of Spain, and the project was carried to only partial completion for his third son and successor, Ferdinand IV of Naples.

The political and social model for Vanvitelli's palace was Versailles, which, though strikingly different in its variety and disposition, solves similar problems of assembling and providing for king, court and government in a massive building with the social structure of a small city, confronting a baroque view of a highly subordinated nature, la nature forcée. The population of Caserta Vecchia was moved 10 kilometers to provide a work force closer to the palace. A silk manufactory at San Leucio resort was disguised as a pavilion in the immense parkland.

Palace of Caserta; Ischia Surroundings

Another of the king's primary objects was to have a magnificent new royal court and administrative center for the kingdom in a location protected from sea attack, and distant from the revolt-prone and congested city of Naples. To provide the king with suitable protection, troop barracks were housed within the palace.

The Royal Palace of Madrid, where Charles had grown up, which had been devised by Filippo Juvarra for Charles' father, Philip V of Spain, and Charlottenburg Palace provided models. A spacious octagonal vestibule seems to have been inspired by Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, while the palatine chapel is most often compared to the Royal Chapel at Versailles. Vanvitelli died in 1773: the construction was continued by his son Carlo and then by other architects; but the elder Vanvitelli's original project, which included a vast pair of frontal wings similar to Bernini's wings at St. Peter's, was never finished.

Palace of Caserta; Ischia Surroundings

From 1923 to 1943 and during World War II the palace was the location of the Accademia Aeronautica, the Italian Air Force Academy. From 1943, during the allied invasion the royal palace served as the seat of the Supreme Allied Commander; Sir Henry Maitland Wilson and later Sir Harold Alexander. In April 1945 the palace was the site of the signing of terms of the unconditional German surrender of forces in Italy. The agreement covered between 600,000 and 900,000 soldiers along the Italian Front, including troops in sections of Austria. The first Allied war crimes trial took place in the palace in 1945; German general Anton Dostler was sentenced to death and executed nearby, in Aversa. In the left hand arc behind the façade, a set of barracks were built. During World War II the soldiers of the US Fifth Army recovered here in a "rest centre".

Of all the royal residences inspired by the Palace of Versailles, the Reggia of Caserta is the one that bears the greatest resemblance to the original model: the unbroken balustraded skyline and the slight break provided by pavilions within the long, somewhat monotonous façade. As at Versailles, a large aqueduct was required to bring water for the prodigious water displays. Like its French predecessor, the palace was intended to display the power and grandeur of an absolute Bourbon monarchy. A solecism at Caserta is that above the piano reale, the King's floor, is another floor of equal magnificence. The enfilades of Late Baroque saloni were the heart and seat of government, as well as displays of national wealth. Caserta provided a royal refuge from the dust and factions of the capital, just as Versailles had freed Louis XIV from Paris. The royal palace has more than 40 monumental rooms completely decorated with frescoes when, in comparison, Versailles counts only 22 monumental rooms.

The garden, a typical example of the baroque extension of formal vistas, stretches for 120 ha, partly on hilly terrain. It is also inspired by the park of Versailles. The park starts from the back façade of the palace, flanking a long alley with artificial fountains and cascades. There is a botanical garden, called "The English Garden", in the upper part designed in the 1780s by Carlo Vanvitelli and the German-born botanist, nurseryman, plantsman-designer, John Graefer, trained in London and recommended to Sir William Hamilton by Sir Joseph Banks. It is an early Continental example of an "English garden" in the svelte naturalistic taste of Capability Brown.

Palace of Caserta; Ischia Surroundings

The palace was listed as a world heritage site in 1997. According to the rationale, the palace, "whilst cast in the same mould as other 18th century royal establishments, is exceptional for the broad sweep of its design, incorporating not only an imposing palace and park, but also much of the surrounding natural landscape and an ambitious new town laid out according to the urban planning precepts of its time."

The Caserta Palace has been used as a filming location in a number of movie productions. In 1967 it served as an US Army Headquarters in the movie, Anzio with Robert Michum.

The palace featured in Beautiful But Dangerous, starring Gina Lollobrigida, in 1955 and in the opening scenes of the film Anzio from 1968, starring Robert Mitchum. In 1997 it served as a filming location for Star Wars, used as the setting for Queen Amidala's royal palace on Naboo in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It featured again in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones as Queen Jamillia's palace.

Palace of Caserta; Ischia Surroundings

The same room was also used in Mission: Impossible III as Vatican City. In the film, a Lamborghini car is blown up in a square inside the palace.

The main staircase is also used in Angels & Demons as the Vatican's staircase. Mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli used the palace as the primary location for the film L'art des castrats that accompanies her album Sacrificium, dedicated to the music written for the castrato singers of the baroque period.

More information here.

Pompeii, Ischia Surroundings

Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

Pompeii, Ischia Surroundings

Researchers believe that the town was founded in the seventh or sixth century BC by the Osci or Oscans. It came under the domination of Rome in the 4th century BC, and was conquered and became a Roman colony in 80 BC after it joined an unsuccessful rebellion against the Roman Republic. By the time of its destruction, 160 years later, its population was estimated at 11,000 people, and the city had a complex water system, an amphitheatre, gymnasium, and a port.

Pompeii, Ischia Surroundings

The eruption destroyed the city, killing its inhabitants and burying it under tons of ash. Evidence for the destruction originally came from a surviving letter by Pliny the Younger, who saw the eruption from a distance and described the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder, an admiral of the Roman fleet, who tried to rescue citizens. The site was lost for about 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748. The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and moisture. These artifacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed one to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died.

Pompeii, Ischia Surroundings

Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years. Today it has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year.

Naples City, Ischia Surroundings

Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. 

Before or after your stay in Ischia, we higly recommend you to visit this fabulous city. 

Naples City, Ischia Surroundings

Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC. A larger colony – initially known as Parthenope,  – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. The city was refounded as Neápolis in the sixth century BC and became a lynchpin of Magna Graecia, playing a key role in the merging of Greek culture into Roman society and eventually becoming a cultural centre of the Roman Republic. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, serving as the capital city of the Kingdom of Naples between 1282 and 1816. Thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. During the Neapolitan War of 1815, Naples strongly promoted Italian unification.

Naples City, Ischia Surroundings

Naples' historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) and enclosing 27 centuries of history, and is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras.  

Naples City, Ischia Surroundings

Popular characters and historical figures who have come to symbolise the city include Januarius (Gennaro), the patron saint of Naples, the comic figure Pulcinella, and the Sirens from the Greek epic poem the Odyssey. According to CNN, the metro stop "Toledo" is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award '2013 as "Public building of the year". Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide. 

Naples City, Ischia Surroundings

Procida Island

Procida is one of the Flegrean Islands off the coast of Naples. The island is between Cape Miseno and the island of Ischia. With its tiny satellite island of Vivara, it is a comune of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the region of Campania. It is very densely populated with its about ten thousand people on a mere 4 km2 (hence more than 2000 people per km2).

Procida Island

Procida is small enough that you could walk most of the distances on the island. However, its narrow roads are busy with traffic and in places pedestrians have to flatten themselves against high walls as cars and buses pass. It's preferable to get around using the little island buses, which run frequently. These start on the harbour side of the church by the main port, with an additional bus stop stop close to the ferry jetty. You can buy tickets from the driver, though it's cheaper to buy them in advance in a bar or tabacchi - if you're staying on the island, it's worth buying a batch of tickets to save money on travel.

Procida Island

If you are visiting Procida for a day trip, walk up to the Terra Murata and visit the abbey if it's open. Admire the views over the Bay of Naples and of the Procida shoreline. Then head downhill to Corricella for a leisurely open-air lunch by the harbour. In the afternoon, if you have time, catch a bus to Chiaiolella where you can splash about on the beach before returning by bus to the port.

Procida Island

Procida has several beaches, of varying quality. The nearest beach to the port is just a few minutes' walk to the right as you disembark the ferry. There is another small beach on the far side of the big yachting marina, with a flight of steps climbing up towards the old part of town. Although fairly popular, neither of these beaches is terribly appealing. There is a better beach halfway along the island's length, on the eastern shore past Corricella. 

Procida Island

This beach, called Chiaia, is reached on foot, down a long flight of steps from Corso Vittorio Emanuele. On the north-western shore of the island is Cala del Pozzo Vecchio, a scenic round bay beneath cliffs, where part of Il Postino was filmed. The drawback here is that the cliffs above the narrow beach mean the sand is in shade for part of the day. Pozzo Vecchio is in an unusual setting, just beneath the island's cemetery (catch bus C1 then walk down a narrow lane on the right).

Ventotene Island

Ventotene, in Roman times known as Pandataria or Pandateria from the Greek Pandateria (Ancient Greek: Πανδατερία) or Pandatoria (Ancient Greek: Πανδατωρία), is one of the Pontine Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, 46 kilometres (25 nmi) off the coast of Gaeta right at the border between Lazio and Campania, Italy. The municipality of Ventotene, of the province of Latina (Lazio) had 708 permanent residents as of 2008.

Ventotene Island

The island, the remains of an ancient volcano, is elongated, with a length of 3 kilometres (2 miles) and a maximum width of about 800 metres (2,625 feet).

The municipality includes the small ancillary island of Santo Stefano, located 2 km (1 mi) to the east, which is the site of a massive prison, now closed. A further island, Ponza, is 40 km (25 mi) to the west.

Ventotene Island

The island is connected by ferry and hydrofoil service to Formia and Anzio; this is supplemented by summer services from and to Ischia.

The port has kept some tuff structures of the ancient Roman structure; on the island are also remains of villas and the extensive rainwater catchment system of channels and cisterns hewn from the bedrock, for the island has no natural springs of fresh water, which today is shipped in by tanker.

Ventotene Island

In July 2009, archaeologists announced the discovery of a "graveyard" of five ancient Roman ships in the deep waters off Ventotene, with their pristine cargoes of olive oil, garum and metal ingots.

One ship carried a full load of a kind of dish called a mortarium, in which foods were ground or mashed. Some of the recovered objects were immediately placed on view at Ventotene.

Capri Island

Capri is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples. The main town Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been a resort since the time of the Roman Republic.

Capri Island

Capri Island

Some of the main features of the island include the following: the Marina Piccola (the little harbour), the Belvedere of Tragara (a high panoramic promenade lined with villas), the limestone crags called sea stacks that project above the sea (the Faraglioni), the town of Anacapri, the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra), and the ruins of the Imperial Roman villas.

Capri Island

Capri is a tourist destination for both Italians and foreigners. In the 1950s Capri became a popular resort. In summer, the island is heavily visited by tourists, especially by day trippers from Naples and Sorrento. Many of these visitors make it a point to wear the pants named after the destination. The center of Capri is the Piazza.

Capri Island

Capri is home to the Mediterranean bush, the Arboreal Euphorbia, and the Ilex Wood. The native inhabitants on the island include quails, robins, peregrine falcons, woodcocks, blackbirds, geckos, red goldfish, conger eels, sargos, groupers, mullets, and the blue lizard of the Faraglioni.

Capri Island

Capri has twelve churches, seven museums and several monuments. The most visited attraction in Capri is the Grotta Azzurra (Blue Grotto). It is a special cave, discovered in the 19th century by foreign tourists and has been a phenomenon ever since. On one side of the grotto are the remains of ancient Roman rock, with a narrow cavern.