Sunday, March 10, 2002 we went to the neighboring town of Caserta to see the Royal Palace. We elected to buy the ticket for the gardens alone and tour the palace another time. It was a good thing since we didn't appreciate how big the gardens were until we started walking them. It was a beautiful spring day and there were a lot of Italian families out enjoying the gardens too.
The Royal Palace is modeled after the Buen Retro in Madrid and Versailles in France. The 1,200 room structure was started in 1752 by Charles III of Bourbon. The park, begun around the same time, is truly massive and the fountains and pools are fed by their own aqueduct that itself took 9 years to build. The English Gardens were built by order of Queen Maria Carolina in 1782 at a time when landscape gardens developed in England were in fashion. Very different from the formal Italian style gardens it is believed to be the first of its kind in Italy. It is quite large, really a park of its own, and contains many exotic plants, large glass green houses, a little lake, a chalet, a group of mock-ruins, and a botanic garden.
We spent all day here and still didn't see all of the garden. Next time we will tour the palace.
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Caserta
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In front of the Royal Palace
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Isabella could have picked these little flowers all day long
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Inside the castle garden.
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The castle behind us looking toward the great waterfall. There are 6 fountains dispersed among the pools leading to the Grande Cascata waterfall which itself is 260 feet high.
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After a VERY long walk, stopping to pick the daisies along the way, we finally reached the Grande Cascata, or fountain of Diana, at the end. We paused for some ice cream before entering the English Garden.
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From the fountain looking back toward the castle.
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Venus about to bathe in the lake inside the English Garden
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Mock ruins
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Isabella rolled down the sloping hills here while mom and dad rested.
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