NAPOLI NATURALLY - DAY 1 - CASERTA

Some great views as we flew into Naples airport

 
and then we scarpered 30 miles in our hire car for an overnighter in Caserta

Day 1 -  The fabulous Reggia di Caserta

It's 1752 and Charles VII wants a palace to rival Versailles. His Neapolitan architect more than fulfils the brief : the palace of Caserta has 1500 rooms (and you'll see below how big some of them are!), 1790 windows, 34 staircases and a 250m-long facade.

 

Sadly works were going on when we visited, so the front was covered and scaffolding barred many of the internal views but this is my idea of a sumptuous, ornate, gorgeous palace!

What an astonishing chapel

The gardens are no less splendid; a "waterway" stretches 3km

leading to a waterfall with statues 

and a vista back towards the palace.

For a late lunch, we picnicked with a view down across town (yum, Italian cherries...)

and eventually found the 10th century Byzantine San Michele Arcangelo church with every square inch covered with frescoes