Royal Palace of Caserta

Charles of Bourbon commissioned Luigi Vanvitelli in 1752 to build a palace to rival Versailles, inland and defensible: five floors, four courtyards, about twelve hundred rooms and a grand staircase designed so the whole ascent is visible from below. The park runs three kilometres straight from the facade in a sequence of basins and fountains rising to the Great Cascade, a seventy-eight-metre fall. Water comes from thirty-eight kilometres away through the Carolino aqueduct, which crosses the Maddaloni valley on a bridge of three tiers of arches. The English Garden beside it was laid out from 1786 in the informal manner.

What you actually see

• The grand staircase - an ascent designed to be seen whole from below.
• The three-kilometre axis - basins and fountains rising to the cascade.
• The Great Cascade - a 78-metre fall fed by a 38-kilometre aqueduct.
• The English Garden - an informal garden with a false ruin and pond.

When to go

April to October; the park is long and exposed, with a shuttle bus or bicycles available for the walk to the cascade. The palace closes Tuesdays.

Honest expectations

The walk to the cascade and back is six kilometres with little shade; the shuttle costs extra. Fountains do not always run. Many palace rooms are closed.

Nearby

Naples lies south; the Sele plain is southeast.