At the moment, all Italy's museums and tourist sites are closed to the public due to the present pandemic. That doesn't mean, however, that they are shut up and silent. Instead, many are taking advantage of the enforced pause to do restoration work and to improve future visitor experience.
The Royal Palace of Caserta, near Naples, former seat of the Neapolitan royal family, is being subjected to extensive roof repairs and restoration of the courtyards, the magnificent Stairway of Honour, the royal apartments and the gardens, which include a special romantic “English Garden”, commissioned by Queen Maria Teresa of Austria, Queen of Naples until the reigning Bourbon family were evicted by Napoleon and substituted by his sister Carolina and her husband Joachim Murat.
Restorers have also been concentrating on the lavishly decorated royal bedroom suite and the two monumental beds that belonged, respectively, to Murat and the Bourbon monarch Francesco II. Murat's mahogany bed, modelled on the French Imperial style, was brought to Naples by Carolina and her husband and is decorated with gilded wooden helms, swords and lances and surmounted by a canopy of ivory satin drapes. Francesco II's “Bateau” bed is even more elaborate, with busts of the Greek gods Mars and Pallas Athena, and a gilded wooden frame ornamented with figures, scrolls and winged lions.
The bedrooms will be open in future to the public as part of the normal palace itinerary
Info: Tel.+39.0823.448084 informareonline.com/www.reggiadicaserta.beniculturali.it
