Caserta (Casert in Caserta dialect) is an Italian town of 73 770
inhabitants, capital of the homonymous province in Campania.
The city of Campania is known above all for its imposing Bourbon
Palace, known as the Versailles of Italy, which, together with the
Royal Belvedere of San Leucio and the Carolino Aqueduct, has been
included in the Unesco World Heritage Site since 1997.
Ancient Origins
The history of Caserta, a city in the Campania
region of southern Italy, traces back to prehistoric and ancient times.
The area was initially inhabited by Osco-Samnite tribes, an Italic
people who dominated much of southern Italy before Roman expansion. The
name "Caserta" derives from the ancient Roman settlement known as Casa
Irta, which translates to "home village located above," likely referring
to its elevated position. This name eventually contracted to "Caserta."
Archaeological evidence, including tombs from the 5th century BCE
discovered in the basement of the Palazzo della Prefettura in 1990,
points to Samnite and early Roman occupation. The Romans established a
presence here, and a temple dedicated to the goddess Diana existed in
the nearby area of Piedimonte di Casolla, later built over by a
Benedictine abbey.
Medieval Period: From Lombard Foundations to
Feudal Control
Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the region
came under Lombard influence in the early Middle Ages. The modern city
of Caserta was established around a defensive tower constructed in the
8th or 9th century by Pando, Prince of Capua, a Lombard ruler. Around
863, Pando destroyed the original settlement, and the tower—now
integrated into the Palazzo della Prefettura—served as a key
fortification. This structure later became the seat of the counts of
Caserta and even a royal residence. The nearby hilltop village of
Casertavecchia (Caserta Vecchia), founded by the Lombards in the 8th
century on the site of the ancient Roman Casa Irta, emerged as the
primary settlement and bishopric seat. It featured narrow lanes, a
cathedral, and fortifications typical of medieval Italian hill towns.
During this era, the lands around Caserta were controlled by noble
families, including the Acquaviva family, who held feudal rights. The
population remained centered in Casertavecchia until the 16th century,
when shifts began toward the plains below due to economic and strategic
reasons. Casertavecchia gradually lost prominence, especially after
losing its bishopric status in 1842.
Early Modern Period:
Transition and Bourbon Acquisition
In the 16th century, the
population migrated from the hilly Casertavecchia to the current lowland
site of Caserta, then a modest village called Torre under the ownership
of the Caetani family of Sermoneta. This shift marked the beginning of
Caserta's transformation from a rural outpost to a more centralized
settlement. The Acquaviva and Caetani families accumulated debts,
leading to the sale of the territory to the Bourbon monarchy.
The
pivotal moment came in 1750 when King Charles VII of Naples (later
Charles III of Spain), a member of the Bourbon dynasty, purchased the
feudal estate from Prince Michelangelo Caetani di Sermoneta for 489,393
ducats. Charles sought a secure inland alternative to Naples, which was
vulnerable to naval invasions due to its coastal location. This
acquisition set the stage for Caserta's golden age as a royal hub.
The Bourbon Era: The Royal Palace and Enlightenment Grandeur (18th
Century)
The 18th century defined Caserta's identity through the
construction of the Reggia di Caserta (Royal Palace), commissioned by
Charles III to rival the opulence of Versailles and Madrid. Designed by
architect Luigi Vanvitelli, construction began on January 20,
1752—Charles's birthday—with a ceremonial laying of the foundation
stone. The palace, the largest royal residence in the world by volume
(over 47,000 square meters and 1,200 rooms), features Baroque and
neoclassical elements, including four courtyards, a grand staircase, a
chapel, a theater, and richly decorated interiors. It was intended as
both a royal residence and an administrative center for a new Bourbon
capital.
The project extended beyond the palace: The park, spanning
120 hectares with fountains, waterfalls, and an English garden, drew
inspiration from Versailles and 16th-century Italian villas.
Construction of the Caroline Aqueduct (Aqueduct of Vanvitelli), a
38-kilometer engineering marvel with the iconic Ponti della Valle
viaduct, began in 1753 to supply water and was completed around 1770.
After Luigi Vanvitelli's death in 1773, his son Carlo simplified the
design due to financial constraints, resuming work in 1777 under King
Ferdinand IV (later Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies). By 1780, parts of
the palace were habitable, though the full vision was never realized due
to economic crises and political upheavals.
In 1789, Ferdinand IV
founded the San Leucio complex, 3 kilometers north, converting a hunting
lodge into silk factories and an idealistic worker community with
housing, schools, and social services, embodying Enlightenment
principles of equality and labor.
19th Century: Napoleonic
Interlude, Risorgimento, and Unification
The Napoleonic era brought
changes: Under Joseph Bonaparte (1806–1808) and Joachim Murat
(1808–1815), French-style renovations occurred, including frescoes in
the Alexander Room depicting Murat's victories. After the Bourbon
restoration in 1815, these were altered to honor Ferdinand I. The Throne
Room was completed in 1845 under Ferdinand II.
During the
Risorgimento, the Battle of the Volturno (October 1–2, 1860) unfolded
around Caserta, where Giuseppe Garibaldi's forces defeated the
Neapolitan army, hastening the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies' fall.
Garibaldi used the palace as his headquarters, initiating spoliation of
furnishings. The kingdom ended with Francesco II's brief reign
(1859–1861), and Caserta integrated into unified Italy in 1861. In 1919,
the Savoy monarchy ceded the palace to the Italian State.
The city
expanded with bourgeois buildings, avenues, and squares, including a
cathedral built in the 1800s.
20th Century: World Wars, Post-War
Recovery, and Modern Challenges
In World War II, the palace served as
Nazi headquarters before Allied forces took control, using it as the
Supreme Allied Commander's base. It endured bombings, thefts, and
damage. On April 29, 1945, the Surrender of Caserta was signed here,
formalizing the German army's unconditional surrender in Italy,
effective May 2. The city suffered heavy losses, earning medals for
civil and military valor for its resistance and reconstruction efforts.
Post-war, the palace hosted military schools, including the Italian Air
Force Academy (1926–1943, reconstituted 1948) until 2016. The city
rebuilt with symmetric streets echoing Roman and Enlightenment designs
but faced population decline since the 1980s.
In 1997, the palace,
park, aqueduct, and San Leucio were designated a UNESCO World Heritage
Site for their Enlightenment-era integration of architecture, nature,
and industry.
Today, Caserta blends its royal legacy with modern
life, though challenges like urban development and maintenance persist.
Notable recent events include Pope Francis's 2014 visit, apologizing for
historical persecutions, and political instability, with Mayor Carlo
Marino stepping down in 2025 amid allegations.
In addition to the capital, the municipality of
Caserta also includes 23 hamlets, for a total area of 56 km².
Among these we must mention San Leucio, a separate municipality
aggregated to Caserta under Fascism, famous for the Real Belvedere
and the silk factories, and Casertavecchia, with its medieval
village, the castle and the Cathedral, dating back to 1100, in
Arab-Romanesque style.
The city is seamlessly linked from an
urbanistic point of view with other important centers of the
province, in particular with Marcianise to the south, where most of
the industries of the Caserta area are concentrated and with Santa
Maria Capua Vetere to the north, where they are present. the Court
and the remains of a Roman amphitheater. For some years the
municipality of Caserta has been the leader of some initiatives,
which include various neighboring municipalities for a total
population of about four hundred thousand inhabitants, which have
the purpose of agreeing on a single and homogeneous territorial
development plan.
Caserta is located in a strategic position
with respect to the major road axes. In particular, it is served by
two exits of the A1, one called "Caserta sud", located in the
territory of the nearby municipality of Marcianise, and the other
called "Caserta nord", located on the border between the
municipalities of Caserta, Casapulla and Casagiove. .
Caserta
is also located in the center of via Sannitica, the road
commissioned by the Bourbons.
In the 2013 urban ecosystem
classification drawn up by Legambiente, the municipality of Caserta
is in 34th place out of 45 provincial capitals with a population of
less than 80,000 inhabitants and, overall, reports an index (38.23%)
lower than that of all other provincial capitals of Campania.
In the province of Caserta there is the largest flat
area in the region and this is also affected by the climate.
The part that goes from the coast to the first mountains that
surround the capital, is affected by the beneficial influences of
the sea, which are felt especially in winter with mild temperatures
and higher humidity (and consequent moderately or even intensely
muggy climate in the summer months). Summer is very long and hot,
with a strong accentuation that took place starting from 1998, as in
all of peninsular Italy, although a second step took place with the
historic summer of 2003. The wave of heat of August 2007, with over
40 ° recorded at the Caserta meteorological station, in this case,
however, with a low humidity rate due to the falling winds but not
dissimilar values were also recorded at the beginning of the
second decade of August 2003 and again in July 2015 and August 2017,
in the last case with a dew point higher than on previous occasions
and extreme physical discomfort.
The winter in the Caserta
plain is mild overall (the weather station of Caserta, located in
the city center and influenced by the heat island, records about 13
° in the average of the maximum temperatures in January, against
about 12 ° of the average 81 / 10 of the station of the military
airport of Grazzanise), but periods (hardly long, given the upward
trend in temperatures in recent decades) of intense cold are not to
be excluded (to cite a few recent examples, relatively rigid was the
two-month period of December 2001 - January 2002, with a short snowy
episode, as well as the period between the second half of January
and the beginning of March 2005, after the mild December 2004, while
the winter 2003-2004 is remembered for the six cold waves ,
alternating with mild periods), with sporadically zero lows even in
the capital and highs below 7 degrees, despite the heat island of
the urban conurbation north of Naples, which affects a lot thermal
averages.
The snow index is still one of the lowest in Italy
and even in Europe, much more negligible than in Italian cities
located at the same latitude, such as Bari, which are less rainy
(the Tyrrhenian side is downwind of the raid of continental air from
the east with respect to the Adriatic side). In the present century,
the most significant snow episode occurred between 26 and 27
February 2018 but the one that occurred between 30 and 31 December
2014 is not negligible (for more significant accumulations it is
necessary to go back to the two-year period 1985-86, although minor
episodes there were also in January 2019 (accumulations of 3 cm. in
the night between 3 and 4), March 2002 (flakes without accumulation,
on Palm Sunday), in March 2005 - limited to the hilly areas - and in
December 2010, while between 16 and 17 December 2010 there were
minimum temperatures below -4 ° in the city center (value replicated
on the nights of 6 and 7 January 2017) and even close to -7 ° in the
nearby military airport of Grazzanise.
In the hilly hamlets the average temperatures are slightly lower,
especially in the maximum values and snowfalls are a little less
rare (Casertavecchia, to remain in the current century, was affected
by snowfall, for example, in January 2004 and March 2005, that did
not involve the flat city or in other cases involved it marginally,
as in February 2012 and February 2013).
The microclimate of
the Matese area is very different from the coast and the Caserta
plain. The internal area of the province is in fact characterized by
numerous hilly and mountainous reliefs, which have a typically
Apennine climate.