It’s the hill that gives the widest and most beautiful view over the Campania Felix. Even without reaching the top.
And it was the very hill of St. Leucio that Count Andrea Matteo Acquaviva chose for a new palace, in the second half of the 16th century, watching over his possessions in the vast plain and over the city of Caserta that was developing around the family residence.
After a long period of splendor, however, a phase of progressive decline arrived for the building of St. Leucio as well. Less and less frequented by the Acquaviva, at the end of the holidays, once every activity of representation stopped, from the first half of the 18th century it had been converted to a home for the guardians of the forest. And that was its use when King Charles of Bourbon begun to be interested in the properties of the Acquaviva heirs, named Gaetani of Sermoneta at the time, for the construction of the new Palace and the construction of related works. The purchase of St. Leucio was formalized in 1750 and the king took possession of it by hunting wild boars in the dense woods of the hill, meeting at one point with the forest of St. Sylvester. The latter became the favorite hunting destination of his successor Ferdinand IV, but when his son Carlo Tito (also heir to the throne) died of smallpox there, at the age of three, the sovereign's attention was focused on St. Leucio. At the center of the ambitious project to create a silk fabric factory and an ideal colony for workers.
THE ROYAL RESIDENCE
The task of renovating the ancient Acquaviva palace to make it a royal residence was given to the pupil and first collaborator of Luigi Vanvitelli, Francesco Collecini. The works started in 1776. The first transformation concerned the banquet hall of the palace, which became the church of St. Ferdinando King frescoed by Carlo Brunelli. Continuing with the expansion of the original edifice, becoming the central part of a large complex with a rectangular plan, also equipped with an internal courtyard. A structure that synthesized in the multiplicity and variety of its functions the ratio of a more than modern, even futuristic project. A single building, housing royal apartments for the directors of the factory and spaces for the entire silk production chain, was like nothing ever seen before.
St. Leucio was a proper royal residence, cataloged among the Royal Delights, with all the comforts that this connotation required during the age of Enlightenment. In fact, the best architects already used in the nearby Royal Palace were employed. To create the Royal Belvedere Palace, so called for its panoramic views, were in fact called the best architects that already worked in the nearby Royal Palace. The sumptuous dining room was entirely frescoed by Fedele Fischetti with scenes from the Loves of Bacchus and Ariadne and, same as in the Palace, it was Jakob Phillip Hackert, the first court artist, who personally took care of the decorations of the rooms and the choice of furnishings. He was also in charge of Maria Carolina's bathroom, which was equipped with a thermal system, a calidarium built into the floor where the water came heated by a stove from the floor below.
THE ROYAL FACTORY
But St. Leucio was also a modern factory with a continuous cycle of excellent production. For this reason, on the proposal of the minister Bernardo Tanucci, the young people of the surrounding area were sent to France to specialize in weaving. The first seventeen workers arrived immediately, in 1776, together with their families. And they already found all the spaces and equipment required for the work: the “cucculiera”, an area for the breeding of silkworms and the processing of cocoons, winding machine, spinning mill, monumental twisting machines and looms.
The project St. Leucio, however, was much more ambitious, considering that it should have culminated in the ideal city of Ferdinandopoli, inspired by the political-social reforms theorized by the Illuminist Gaetano Filangieri, who found an ally in Minister Tanucci and who also convinced the king and his wife Maria Carolina of Habsburg. In fact, the factory of St. Leucio and the workers' colony depended directly on the king.
THE IDEAL CITY
From an urban planning point of view, the project expected a city developed around a large central square from which all the streets should radiate out. A cathedral would have found its place to the north and a theater to the south. Collecini managed to realize only a part of this plant, the districts St. Ferdinand and St. Charles (named after the sovereigns) with accommodation for workers and families. 37 were built, same models, square, on three levels: kitchen on the ground floor, the dining area and a double height space to accommodate the frame, because each inhabitant had a personal production; on the first floor were the bedrooms and in the basement were the shelters for the animals and the supplies of wood. The houses were equipped with running water and sanitation, a garden and stables. The colony, in fact, had to be autonomous in production of food and everything necessary for daily life too.
In 1789 the "Laws for the good governance of the population of St. Leucio" arrived, introducing an absolutely innovative management and administration system, which enshrined the equality of all inhabitants, men and women. The women were in fact freed from the obligation of dowry to marry and were required to attend compulsory school, like boys. Health care was provided for all and protection for children, the elderly and the sick. In addition, the working hours were 11 hours a day instead of 14 as anywhere else. And in fact, skilled workers from all over Italy moved to St. Leucio. This statute, example of enlightened despotism, was also taken as a model for the Constitution of the United States. Where the silks of St. Leucio arrived and can still be found in the Oval Room of the White House, as in the palaces of half of Europe.
The St. Leucio project stopped with the Restoration and the change of course of the Bourbon government after the Neapolitan Revolution, but the buildings for production and not were enlarged. Then with the unification of Italy it was all incorporated into the state property.
THE VISIT PATH
Today the hilltop village of St. Leucio, to the north-east of the Royal Palace, can be completely visited. It can be reached from Piazza della Seta, on the route between Caserta and Caiazzo, entering from the Royal Arch that bears the coat of arms of the Bourbons with two lions. Inside, the church and the Belvedere. On the left is the St. Charles district, the St. Ferdinand is on the right. Both are connected to the Belvedere by a double flight of steps, with the royal stables underneath. The production spaces of the Royal Silk factories can be found following the perimeter of the building,. The Silk Museum inside the palace keeps the ancient looms in perfect working order and all the equipment used to make the precious silk fabrics. The Weaver's House is also of considerable interest.
THE VISIT PATH
In the western part of the town the “Italian-way Gardens” can be admired, arranged on various levels and connected by stairs, adorned with fountains, near which fruit trees and a citrus grove are cultivated.
The Belvedere of St. Leucio has been Unesco site since 1997 together with the Royal Palace and the Carolino Aqueduct.
Useful information:
Tel. 0823.273152 - 0823-273174
belvedere@comune.caserta.it
Hours: Monday to Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday closed
Full price ticket: 7 €
Reduced ticket: 4 €
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