1. The Roman era

2. Italy for its beauty is famous, a time Rome had a vast empire. The Romans took from every country conquered a piece of its culture. So the result was an ensemble of culture from all over the world and the Italians had a very busy life, Italian cities were overcrowded. The Italian society was hierarchical and due to the richness of the citizen. The reach and poor people didn’t live a very different life. The rich people lived in the “domus”(the domus are our moderns villas) while the poor lived in the “insulae”,the insulae were very high building constructed with shoddy materials, so the risk of collapsing was real. The water didn’t arrive to the upper floors and these obviously was a problem in case of fire

3. . At that time women didn’t have the right to vote and they were considereted slave and the husband could even repudiate them if they wanted but later this right was accorded to the women too. The Italians had a rich life, they spend their time watching “shows” like the fighting in the Colosseum between gladiators, the games(like races) of the Circenses circum (the bigger circum was the Circus Maximum) and enjoying the theatrical drama.

5. The Royal Palace of Caserta is an historic mansion belonging to the royal house of Bourbons of Naples, UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Located in the town of Caserta, is surrounded by a large park in which we can identifie two areas: The Italian garden, in which there are several fountains and the famous Great Waterfall. The English garden characterized by thick forests.

6. The Royal Palace is the largest royal residence in the world with over two million cubic meters. The Royal Palace of Caserta was commissioned by the King of Naples, Charles of Bourbon, who, eager to give a dignified representative office to the government, to Naples and to its realm, wanted to built a palace that could be compared to the palace of Versailles. The king, however, was aware of the considerable vulnerability to sea attacks of Naples ( and not only by sea ) and, for this reason, the Royal Palace was built towards the inland, in the Caserta area: a safer place and yet not too far from Naples.

7. The King asked that the project would include, in addition to the palace, the park and the planning of the urban environment, and a new aqueduct "Carolino" that crossed the annexed area of "San Leucio“. The new Royal Palace had to be a symbol of the new Bourbon state and had to show power and grandeur, but also be efficient and rational. The Palace is defined the last great creation of the Italian Baroque, was completed in 1845 (although it was already inhabited since 1780) resulting a huge complex of 1,200 rooms.

8. Next to the central door are the statues of justice, magnificence, mercy and peace, virtues attributed to the King. Water plays a very important role in the whole Royal complex. We can admire the fountain of "Margherita", the bathtub and the fountain of the Dolphins, the bathtub and the fountain of Aeolus, the bathtub and the fountain of Ceres, waterfalls and fountains of Venus and Adonis, the fountain of Diana and Actaeon, dominated by the Great Waterfall. The tubs are populated by numerous fish and aquatic plants.

10. The Count of Glaichen, who personally knew King Charles III says: "Charles III was ugly from head to toe, but hadn’t bodily deformity. He had a long face and a nose very prominent, shy and sad expression, a body very weak and not free from imperfections. In 1739, to celebrate his birthday the king received his gentlemen who were dressed beautifully, while he wore an old dress of brown cloth with yellow buttons” Charles III

11. The king, ascended the throne, organized his own court and edited a political image, useful to affirm and reinforce, through displays of grandeur and pomp, prestige dynastic and institutional role that he had conquered. Charles III had a real passion for hunting, in fact he built the Royal Palaces of Portici, Capodimonte, Caserta in order to pursue his passion. He also created a breeding ground for phesants in the island of Procida. Since cats were the enemies of pheasants, he ordered the extirpation of the feline race around the island of Procida. Hunting scene

12. The Royal Palace of Caserta houses a rich collection of everyday objects that withness the daily life of princes and kings. The small objects, which were used to make more intimate the royal apartments, dating mostly from the nineteenth century that testify to the taste of those years and the collection fashion Two cots belonged to the royal family

13. The young princes and princesses dedicated, like all boys, some hours of the day to the games. Usually, the princes went hunting while the princesses enjoyed theatrical perfomances held in the small theater, called "Theatre of the princesses." The Kings, in order to be trained to war art, played many war games. The architect Collecini built in the grounds of the palace "La Castelluccia", a real fortress with a drawbridge surrounded by a moat and a big fishpond in which naval battles took place. THE CASTELLUCCIA