The magnificent vestiges of Paestum were not far away. And, frequenting that area, King Carlo di Borbone rapidly noticed the great wood of Persano, very rich in game and extending through the plain crossed by Sele and Calore Lucanorivers.
A decisive feature to attract the attention of the sovereign, notoriously passionate about hunting, who eventually decided to take possession of that green area, at the time property of the feudal lord of Serre, Count De Rossi.
Once acquired the possession of Persano, initially only for rent, the king started building a hunting lodge there in 1752. The factory was entrusted to a military engineer, Giovanni Domenico Piana from Milan, who exploited the site on which a building, placed on the remains of a medieval village, already stood. The following year the great Luigi Vanvitelli joined the project Piana, and a two-story residence with a Baroque facade was built. Dominated, at the entrance, by a stone portal flanked by two sentry boxes, from which it is possible to enter the beautiful atrium with stucco decorations, embellished with a staircase on which the marble statue of a dog stands out, opera of Antonio Canova.
Inserted among the Royal Delights once it became the personal property of the sovereign, in 1758, only a year before his transfer to Spain, Persano estate was always among the favorites of Carlo, who frequented it assiduously, also to follow the breeding of horses of various origins aimed at the selection of a new prestigious breed. A project he continued to be interested in even from Spain, sending horses and with constant requests for updates. After him, his successor, Ferdinand IV, who organized wild boar hunts with the court, often in conjunction with the visit of other sovereigns or foreign diplomats, became passionate about the residence in the plain of Sele. From Persano, the illustrious guests were easily led to the coast to admire the spectacular temples of Paestum. And so, The Real Hunting Lodge of Persano was also the frame for some important historical moments for the kingdom.
Meanwhile, through a complex series of crossings, the goal of creating a new breed of horses had been achieved and the "persano" had proved to be ideal for military use due their characteristics, much appreciated also abroad, so much to become symbol and reason of pride of the Bourbon kingdom. Upon its fall, therefore, the estate ended up being identified with the stables until 1874, when it was decided to close it and disperse the herd.
It was only in 1900 that the Italian government decided to recover the Persan horse, rebuilding the "government breed of Persano" at its original site, always aimed at military use, for the cavalry, which was active until the Second World War. The famous horses continued to be bred in Persano until 1972, when they were transferred to Grosseto. But the ancient royal hunting lodge remained in the possession of the Ministry of Defense, which since then has assigned it to the headquarters of some Army units.
