We entered up a grand staircase before going up an even grander staircase, and entered into a huge octagonal vestibule. The size of the interior doors shows how grand this space was.
From there to the Palatine Chapel, for which the King said he would not spare the cost to do glory to God.
The Royal Apartments follow on the left, room after room of amazing light fittings, if nothing else! First the Antechambers and then the King's and the Queen's apartments. There are meeting and reception rooms, a library and even a grand bathroom.
This beautiful piece is a babies cradle. I wonder if it was ever used?
As seems to be the trend at present, there were modern art works interspersed with the antique furnishing of the palace. This was the only one I felt inclined to photograph, it was in the library.
On display was an amazingly large nativity scene made with the cork bark structure and figures of straw bodies and terra cotta faces, hands and feet. The dress on the people and the biblical scenes are considered canonically correct. This is a reconstruction of the Royal Nativity Scene for which the King and the Palace at Caserta were well know.
Having seen photos with the parterre gardens at the front of the Palace, I was a little distressed to see the state of the garden as we walked up the path to the palace. You do get used to not seeing the neatly clipped lawns we have in Australia but this just looked lost.
From one of the very old glass windows upstairs I was relieved to see that the hedges of the parterre are still there. One last look at the parterre as we left still didn't give me confidence that this is how it should look.
After more than two hours in the palace it was back on to the train and another slow trip back to Naples.
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