Caserta - Palazzo Reale

Opposite the station in Caserta is the former Royal Palace (247m/925ft long, 41m/135ft wide; 1,200 rooms and 1,790 windows), a magnificent residence in the manner of Versailles built by Luigi Vanvitelli for King Charles III of Naples and Sicily from 1752 onwards. The interior, with its well-preserved decoration and furnishings, forms a museum of the Bourbon dynasty which ruled the kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1734-1860). Particularly fine are the Grand Staircase (116 steps), the Cappella Reale, the Royal Apartments and the Theater. In the Second World War the Palace served as the headquarters of the Allied Middle East Command; on April 29th 1945 the German armies in Italy signed the surrender document here.