Italy's Royal Palace of Caserta has been undergoing a multi-stage long-awaited restoration project. The architectural marvel, dubbed the “Italian Versailles,” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site near the southern city of Naples.
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It's huge, covering an area of 47,000 square meters, making it the largest former royal residence in the world. To be clear: though this comes as a surprise to most people interested in history or architecture, Caserta is much, much bigger than Versailles.
One of the last great European gardens, Caserta Royal Palace and Park borrowed from creations such as Versailles and the 16th century villas in Rome and Tuscany. But unlike those sites, this Italian masterpiece combined manicured gardens and natural woodland, with hunting lodges and a silk factory.
With an area equivalent to 27 football pitches and with a total of 3,418 rooms, the Royal Palace ranks as the largest palace in Western Europe, twice the size of Buckingham Palace or the Palace of Versailles.
It's opponent in this battle of the bucket-list biggies is no shrinking violet either: in le corner rouge (please pardon our French) is the picture-perfect palace of Versailles, a fairytale edifice of quite magical beauty, and perhaps the planet's most celebrated château.
The Five Royal Palaces in Seoul are Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, Changgyeonggung Palace, Deoksugung Palace and Gyeonghuigung Palace. Gyeongbokgung Palace is arguably the most beautiful and remains the largest of all five palaces.
The Louvre is the larger building (72 135 square meters vs. 63 154). But the grounds of Versailles are enormous, much larger than those of the Louvre, and the total park covers 1070 hectares.
After the departure of the royal familyEven though the sovereign and the court were no longer in residence, the Palace was not left to go to ruin. On the contrary, and as always during the royal family's absences, the opportunity was taken to carry out repairs.
Anyway, this is the average time you will need to visit each of its attractions: Palace of Versailles: Between 1 hour and a half and 2 hours. Stroll through the Versailles Gardens: 2 hours. Visit to the Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon and the Queen's Village: 1 hour.