Reggia di Caserta

This weekend, some friends and I decided to go to a little town close to Naples known as Caserta. Caserta is home to the Reggia di Caserta, a beautifu palace with sprawling gardens which is marketed as Italy's answer to France's Versailles.  We took the morning train from Rome, and anticipated a beautifully sunny day as we were told by weather.com... Weather.com lied.

We got to Caserta and found that not only had it been raining all day, but it probably wouldn't stop while we were there. Worst nightmare. So much for seeing the infamous gardens. We decided that we wouldn't let the weather win.

We walked inside and were immediately greeted by huge arched ceilings and beautiful architecture.

We decided that we wouldn't let the weather beat us, we were going to see the beautiful gardens, its fountains, its waterfall and the marble statues enhancing it... Not a good choice. As you can see it began to POUR when we got outside. Determined to get our money's worth, we trudged through the ankle high puddles and the TEN minute walk from the door of the palace to the beginning of the gardens.

 As soon as we got to the foot of the gardens we took some pictures and went inside where we knew it would be somewhat warm. When inside the palace, it is easy to see why they call it Italy's answer to Versailles. I felt like I was in France, not near Naples. The Architecture is not like anything else I have ever seen in Italy, other than its clearly Mediterranean orange-y color. It was beautiful and was perfectly suited as the dwelling place of the sister of Queen Marie Antoinette. My favorite part of the palace wasn't its gleaming, gilded ceilings,  or the beautiful paintings that adorned the walls. My favorite thing, or things, were the clocks that Marie Antoinette gave to her sister. They were golden birdcages with little birds inside, but the bottoms of the cages were clock faces. They were really pretty and signature Marie Antoinette decadence.

Even with the rain and the slight fever that followed, the trip was really interesting and an exercise in Italian Language and I am really glad I went.