• Home
  • Adventures
  • Videos
  • About Us
  • Search

Mobile Menu

  • Home
  • Adventures
  • Videos
  • About Us
  • Search
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Join the Kellys

See the world!

  • Home
  • Adventures
  • Videos
  • About Us
  • Search
You are here: Home / Italy / Caserta Palace, the Largest Royal Residence in the World
Caserta Palace front view

Caserta Palace, the Largest Royal Residence in the World

July 17, 2019 //  by Shelbi Kelly//  2 Comments

Share this...
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Email this to someone
email
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Print this page
Print
Share on StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon
Share on Tumblr
Tumblr

Caserta Palace is the Versailles of Italy, but bigger, and it’s the ultimate in Baroque architecture. Read why it – and the grounds – are a must-see!

Caserta Palace kids running to horse and carriage

What is the Royal Palace of Caserta?

Caserta Palace back view

Jaw-dropping.  Caserta Palace or Reggia di Caserta is the largest royal residence in the world, and if you are at all impressed by the pictures, it will blow your mind even more in person.  The design was intended to be huge and feel huge – and the primary architect, Luigi Vanvitelli, nailed it.

Caserta Palace hallway

Construction began in 1752 and carried on for 93 years!  The royal family began living here in 1780, and with 1200 rooms there were more than a few uses for the royal family.  

Caserta Palace doorway with person

Caserta Palace family outside of royal palace

In the movies

Caserta Palace golden room

Several movies were filmed at Caserta Palace, so of course, we went home and watched one – it was fun to see it in the film after having just been there. Popular movies include: Mission Impossible 3, Angels and Demons and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. 

Caserta Palace grand staircase

Caserta Palace with KIDS

The Palace and the grounds are huge!  Asking jetlagged children to do this much walking took some effort, but we don’t want our kids to determine if we go out and explore or not.  They didn’t sleep well the night before and were having a tough time, so we did what we could to be a step ahead of any meltdown. 

Caserta Palace girl examining statue
Jeannie spent several minutes examing this statue.

To that end, we tried to keep the kids engaged by focusing on their interests.  They were fascinated by some of the statues, and we had a really enjoyable time exploring the palace while playing “I Spy.”  Jeannie loves “Beauty and the Beast,” and when we went into the ballroom she curtsied to herself and began waltzing away. She was super excited when we found the library. We talked about what Belle would do with such an amazing selection of books. 

Caserta Palace girl dancing in ballroom

Things that would have helped: having a carrier (still in our household goods shipment) and snacks! Luckily after touring the inside and before going out there was a cafeteria where we grabbed some lunch.

Caserta Palace ceilng 

Caserta Palace Park and Gardens

Caserta Palace fountains

Walking out the back and into the park, the scale of it all once again overwhelms you. I honestly wondered how we could possibly enjoy all of it in one day – but then we saw the horses and carriages! I was hesitant because it was €50 for a ride, but some people who just finished their ride assured us it was worth it, especially with kids. 

Caserta Palace kids driving carriage

We took the plunge. It was a great decision! Our driver took us through a forest that we didn’t even realize we could go see, and she serenaded us with Neapolitan folk songs and regaled us with interesting facts about the estate. 

Caserta Palace coachman

She also made it fun for the kids, whereas it would have been impossible to do walking. The long walks under the hot sun would have been too much for our kiddos!

Caserta Palace kids sitting in park

Caserta Palace kids by fountain

Aquadutto Carolina 

All of the water flowing through the Parco is unnatural, and the 40 km of aqueducts that supply it are an engineering marvel.  The crowning jewel is the Roman-style aqueduct, Acquedutto Carolina, that traverses the Valle di Maddaloni. It is over 500 m long and is beautiful to see, day or night!

Caserta Palace park canal view

Caserta Palace family by park lake

Plan your trip:

How to get to Caserta Palace from Naples

Take the Flixbus or the train from Napoli directly to the station in front of Caserta. Check out Reggia di Caserta find more information. 

Caserta Palace couple by fountains

Week 2:

This week, we attended a week-long orientation brief and the kids went to daycare for the first time! It was so hard for me to leave them, but the break during the day wise nice to get things done. The kids did pretty well at the beginning.  They love Toy Story 3 and were excited to play with toys at daycare. By the end of the week, though, they were missing us and we were all ready for daycare to be over. Check out our first week adventures here. 

Caserta Palace kids looking out window

Matt and I both passed our drivers license test and we even found and purchased a car. Thursday we received notification that we were allowed to live off base! Friday we spent the late afternoon looking at homes. Our realtor showed us 3 we really liked and I wondered how we would ever choose.  Then, we saw number 4 and it won us over! Hopefully we will move in and settle soon so we can focus on living here and experiencing this incredible part of the world.

Caserta Palace

 

Share this...
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Email this to someone
email
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Print this page
Print
Share on StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon
Share on Tumblr
Tumblr

Category: Art, ItalyTag: Aqueduct, Family adventures, Royal

Never miss a post

Join us for all of our adventures!

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

Lake Como with a drone

Lake Como, the Best Place to Spend a Long Weekend

Paestum Neptune Temple at night

Paestum, Italy Greek Ruins

Production handmade craftsmanship of mozzarella made with Bufala

Mozzarella di Bufala at Tenuta Vannulo Organic Farm

Previous Post: «Naples Underground entry way to homes Naples Underground: Our first week in Italy
Next Post: Modena, Italy: Fast Cars, Slow Food and the Top 5 Reasons to Visit Modena Countryside»

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Modena, Italy: Fast Cars, Slow Food and the Top 5 Reasons to Visit - Join the Kellys says:
    July 25, 2019 at 4:28 am

    […] Ducal Palace was a lot different than the last palace we visited, Caserta Palace.  It had a fun park behind it where we had breakfast at and let the kids play around. We then […]

    Reply
  2. Exploring Berlin with Kids - Our 4-day Itinerary - Join the Kellys says:
    September 12, 2019 at 2:02 am

    […] we took the kids (with some difficulty) through the massive Caserta Palace in Italy, we decided not to tour the inside. We did however enjoy walking through part of the […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Family

We are the Kellys, and we love seeing the beautiful world around us! We have made it our goal to explore as much as we can wherever we live. As a family in the military we expect to move often, which means there will be many opportunities to explore new places! We document the amazing places we see, and hope to share with you our joy of adventuring as a family!

Learn more about us here!

Recent Posts

Family in Bavaria Garmisch

Garmisch, Germany: the Best Kept Secret

January 10, 2020

Day Trip to Salzburg, Austria

November 15, 2019

Golden Pavilion in Kyoto

Your Guide: What to do in Kyoto, Japan

November 13, 2019

Lake Como with a drone

Lake Como, the Best Place to Spend a Long Weekend

October 24, 2019

Search hotels and more...

Destination

Check-in date

Check-out date

Booking.com

Never miss a post

Join us for all of our adventures!

Footer

All of our Adventures

“It’s not an adventure until something goes wrong.”

-Yvon Chouinard

See all of our adventures.

Site Footer

  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap

Copyright © 2022 Join the Kellys · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Mai Theme