Palace of Portici
Encyclopedia
The Royal Palace of Portici (Reggia di Portici or Palazzo Reale di Portici) is a former royal palace in Portici
, southern Italy
. Today it is the home of the Orto Botanico di Portici
. The Botanic Gardens are operated by the University of Naples Federico II
. They were once part of a big estate that included an English garden
, a zoo and formal parterre
s.
was crowned the King of Naples
and Sicily
on 3 July 1735 at the age of 18. He had taken control of the two kingdoms by military force opposing the powerful Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
. While King of Naples and Sicily, he went about improving much in the kingdom.
Charles and his consort Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony
were favourably impressed with the area of Portici when they visited the villa of Emmanuel Maurice d'Elbeuf, the Duke of Elbeuf there in 1738. The couple ordered the construction of a palace in Portici that would act, not only as a private residence, but as a place to receive foreign officials travelling to the kingdom.
Work began at the end of 1738 with Antonio Canevari given charge of the project. He worked together with other popular architects of the period. Canevari also helped Charles and Maria Amalia with the construction of another Neapolitan residence, the Palace of Capodimonte
.
Charles had the painter Giuseppe Bonito
decorate the interior of the palace while the gardens were decorated with marble
sculptures by Joseph Canart.
A series of older villas and noble residences were discovered in preparing the foundations of the palace, and excavation of the area revealed numerous works of art, among which was a temple with 24 marble columns. This discovery was put in a museum prepared for the occasion, the Museum of Portici, annexed to the Accademia Ercolanese, founded by Charles in 1755 to house the findings from the excavations of Herculaneum
.
Since the new royal palace was not large enough to house the whole court, it stimulated the construction of numerous other grand residences in the neighborhood, 122 of which are now known as the Vesuvian Villas. This led to the construction of the larger and far grander Palace of Capodimonte. Charles and his wife kept the Portici Palace as their summer residence and seven of their twelve children were born there.
Upon King Charles' accession to the Spanish throne in 1759, he left his Neapolitan and Sicilian domains to his third son, Prince Ferdiand
who would rule Naples and Sicily till his death in 1825.
During the reign of Ferdinand, the Palace was overshadowed by the far grander Caserta Palace
which was the official home of the court from 1759. Portici was the private home of Prince Felipe of Naples and Sicily who was the eldest son of Charles III of Spain
. Prince Felipe was mentally disabled and lived in the palace till his death there on 19 September 1777.
In the spring of 1769, the palace hosted Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
. In 1770 Mozart
stayed there aged 14.
In 1799, King Ferdinand added an opera house to the palace.
In 1804, the Queen consort of the Two Sicilies, Maria Isabella of Spain
, gave birth to her first child here; born Princess Luisa Carlotta of Naples and Sicily
, she would marry her uncle Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain
, Duke of Cadiz. On 13 September 1848 Queen Maria Isabella died at the palace aged 59.
Joachim Murat
refurnished the palace with French furniture during the Napoleonic occupation.
Today the palace accommodates the seat of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Naples Federico II
.
In 1834, a description of the palace was made by the Corografia dell'Italia:
terraced and equipped with balustrades; the center of the palace is a large quadrangle
of which there are two gateways which allowed traffic to pass through; this thoroughfare was once called the Strada delle Calabrie or Road of Calabria. It is today called the via Università. The palace has two large parks: on the West overlooking the Gulf of Naples
, and on the East looking towards Mount Vesuvius
.
On the left side of the courtyard of the palace is the barracks of the Royal Guards (Caserma delle Guardie Reali) and the Palatine Chapel (Cappella Palatina of 1749), while a majestic salon (1741) leads from the vestibule to the first floor, where the apartment of Caroline Bonaparte
is. The salon is richly decorated in Louis XIV Style, and the boudoir of the Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony
has walls decorated in porcelain of the Capodimonte Porcelain Factory
which Maria Amalia helped found in 1743.
In the upper park was Charles's private zoo with kangaroo
s, an elephant
, two lion
s, two panther
s, four antelope
s, an African lioness, a puma, two American tapir
s and a porcupine
. This novelty was kept by King Ferdinand
who maintained that it was to remain on show to foreign dignitaries.
Portici
Portici is a town and comune of the Province of Naples in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is the site of the Portici Royal Palace.-Geography:...
, southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Today it is the home of the Orto Botanico di Portici
Orto Botanico di Portici
The Orto Botanico di Portici , also known as the Orto Botanico della Facoltà di Agraria dell'Università di Napoli-Portici, is a botanical garden operated by the University of Naples Agriculture Department, and located at Via Università, 100 – 80055 Portici, Province of Naples, Campania, Italy...
. The Botanic Gardens are operated by the University of Naples Federico II
University of Naples Federico II
The University of Naples Federico II is a university located in Naples, Italy. It was founded in 1224 and is organized into 13 faculties. It is the world's oldest state university and one of the oldest academic institutions in continuous operation...
. They were once part of a big estate that included an English garden
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
, a zoo and formal parterre
Parterre
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
s.
History
Infante Charles of SpainCharles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
was crowned the King of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
and Sicily
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
on 3 July 1735 at the age of 18. He had taken control of the two kingdoms by military force opposing the powerful Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
. While King of Naples and Sicily, he went about improving much in the kingdom.
Charles and his consort Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony
Maria Amalia of Saxony
Maria Amalia of Saxony was a German princess from the House of Wettin and was the wife of Charles III of Spain; she was the Queen consort of Naples and Sicily from 1738 till 1759 and then Queen consort of Spain from 1759 until her death in 1760...
were favourably impressed with the area of Portici when they visited the villa of Emmanuel Maurice d'Elbeuf, the Duke of Elbeuf there in 1738. The couple ordered the construction of a palace in Portici that would act, not only as a private residence, but as a place to receive foreign officials travelling to the kingdom.
Work began at the end of 1738 with Antonio Canevari given charge of the project. He worked together with other popular architects of the period. Canevari also helped Charles and Maria Amalia with the construction of another Neapolitan residence, the Palace of Capodimonte
Museo di Capodimonte
The National Museum of Capodimonte is located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italian schools of painting, and some important Ancient Roman...
.
Charles had the painter Giuseppe Bonito
Giuseppe Bonito
Giuseppe Bonito was a Neapolitan painter of the Rococo period. Giuseppe Bonito is known for genre depictions on canvas. Many of Gaspare Traversi's paintings had previously been attributed to Bonito....
decorate the interior of the palace while the gardens were decorated with marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
sculptures by Joseph Canart.
A series of older villas and noble residences were discovered in preparing the foundations of the palace, and excavation of the area revealed numerous works of art, among which was a temple with 24 marble columns. This discovery was put in a museum prepared for the occasion, the Museum of Portici, annexed to the Accademia Ercolanese, founded by Charles in 1755 to house the findings from the excavations of Herculaneum
Herculaneum
Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in AD 79, located in the territory of the current commune of Ercolano, in the Italian region of Campania in the shadow of Mt...
.
Since the new royal palace was not large enough to house the whole court, it stimulated the construction of numerous other grand residences in the neighborhood, 122 of which are now known as the Vesuvian Villas. This led to the construction of the larger and far grander Palace of Capodimonte. Charles and his wife kept the Portici Palace as their summer residence and seven of their twelve children were born there.
Upon King Charles' accession to the Spanish throne in 1759, he left his Neapolitan and Sicilian domains to his third son, Prince Ferdiand
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I reigned variously over Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death. He was the third son of King Charles III of Spain by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, as King Charles III of Spain...
who would rule Naples and Sicily till his death in 1825.
During the reign of Ferdinand, the Palace was overshadowed by the far grander Caserta Palace
Caserta Palace
The Royal Palace of Caserta is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century...
which was the official home of the court from 1759. Portici was the private home of Prince Felipe of Naples and Sicily who was the eldest son of Charles III of Spain
Charles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
. Prince Felipe was mentally disabled and lived in the palace till his death there on 19 September 1777.
In the spring of 1769, the palace hosted Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
. In 1770 Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
stayed there aged 14.
In 1799, King Ferdinand added an opera house to the palace.
In 1804, the Queen consort of the Two Sicilies, Maria Isabella of Spain
Maria Isabella of Spain
María Isabella of Spain was an Infanta of Spain and the Queen of the Two Sicilies. She was the second wife of Francis I and the youngest surviving daughter of the Spanish king Charles IV and his consort Maria Luisa of Parma...
, gave birth to her first child here; born Princess Luisa Carlotta of Naples and Sicily
Princess Luisa Carlotta of the Two Sicilies
Luisa Carlotta of Naples and Sicily , Princess the Two Sicilies, Infanta of Spain, was a daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies.-Family:...
, she would marry her uncle Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain
Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain
Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain was the youngest son of Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma.-Marriage and children:...
, Duke of Cadiz. On 13 September 1848 Queen Maria Isabella died at the palace aged 59.
Joachim Murat
Joachim Murat
Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...
refurnished the palace with French furniture during the Napoleonic occupation.
Today the palace accommodates the seat of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Naples Federico II
University of Naples Federico II
The University of Naples Federico II is a university located in Naples, Italy. It was founded in 1224 and is organized into 13 faculties. It is the world's oldest state university and one of the oldest academic institutions in continuous operation...
.
In 1834, a description of the palace was made by the Corografia dell'Italia:
Palazzo di Portici: was built in the year 1738 by King Charles of Bourbon, who wanted it to increase the glory of the royal autumnal vacations, of which it formed the center. Towards 1750 it was used to store the collection of precious things that had been discovered in Herculaneum and in Pompeii. The building is on three floors, and is rectangular, 400 feet from east to west, and 360 feet wide. The principal prospect is of the sea; the large courtyard is octagonal, but has the singularity, or rather the disadvantage, of carrying the main thoroughfare that leads from Naples to Salerno, to Sannio, to Apulia and Calabria. Inside that big courtyard are the royal apartments, the sumptuous galleries that contained the fine museum, unique in the world, for the quantity of statues, of bronzes, bas reliefs, pots, candelabras, and tools of every type found in the excavations of the above-mentioned two towns, and that today are part of the Bourbon Museum. What is seen however, and what is not found in other royal palaces, is that has floors composed of ancient Greek or Roman mosaics. The galleries however are not entirely devoted to precious objects. One finds a fine collection of paintings of the Italian, French and Flemish schools. The gardens are at the east on the slopes of Vesuvius: they are immense, little adorned, but with many trees that are always green, especially service and arbutus trees, which feed the thrushes that abound there.
Architecture
The entrance presents a spacious and majestic façadeFacade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
terraced and equipped with balustrades; the center of the palace is a large quadrangle
Quadrangle (architecture)
In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...
of which there are two gateways which allowed traffic to pass through; this thoroughfare was once called the Strada delle Calabrie or Road of Calabria. It is today called the via Università. The palace has two large parks: on the West overlooking the Gulf of Naples
Gulf of Naples
The Gulf of Naples is a c. 15 km wide gulf located in the south western coast of Italy, . It opens to the west into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered on the north by the cities of Naples and Pozzuoli, on the east by Mount Vesuvius, and on the south by the Sorrentine Peninsula and the main...
, and on the East looking towards Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, although it is not currently erupting...
.
On the left side of the courtyard of the palace is the barracks of the Royal Guards (Caserma delle Guardie Reali) and the Palatine Chapel (Cappella Palatina of 1749), while a majestic salon (1741) leads from the vestibule to the first floor, where the apartment of Caroline Bonaparte
Caroline Bonaparte
Maria Annunziata Carolina Murat , better known as Caroline Bonaparte, was the seventh surviving child and third surviving daughter of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino and a younger sister of Napoleon I of France...
is. The salon is richly decorated in Louis XIV Style, and the boudoir of the Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony
Maria Amalia of Saxony
Maria Amalia of Saxony was a German princess from the House of Wettin and was the wife of Charles III of Spain; she was the Queen consort of Naples and Sicily from 1738 till 1759 and then Queen consort of Spain from 1759 until her death in 1760...
has walls decorated in porcelain of the Capodimonte Porcelain Factory
Capodimonte porcelain
Capodimonte porcelain is porcelain created by the Capodimonte porcelain manufactory, which was established in Naples, Italy in 1743. Capodimonte porcelain was made in direct emulation of Meissen porcelain...
which Maria Amalia helped found in 1743.
Park
The Palace's park, called the Giardino della Regina, originally extended from Pugliano towards Vesuvius down to Granatello, towards the sea. It was divided into two parks, the lower having spacious avenues surrounding English gardens. It held works of art including the Fountain of the Sirens (Fontana delle Sirene), the Kiosk of King Carlo (Chiosco di Re Carlo) the Fountain of the Swans (Fontana dei Cigni), and an amphitheatre.In the upper park was Charles's private zoo with kangaroo
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
s, an elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
, two lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, two panther
Panthera
Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae , which contains four well-known living species: the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard. The genus comprises about half of the Pantherinae subfamily, the big cats...
s, four antelope
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
s, an African lioness, a puma, two American tapir
Tapir
A Tapir is a large browsing mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile snout. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. There are four species of Tapirs: the Brazilian Tapir, the Malayan Tapir, Baird's Tapir and the Mountain...
s and a porcupine
Porcupine
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
. This novelty was kept by King Ferdinand
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I reigned variously over Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death. He was the third son of King Charles III of Spain by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, as King Charles III of Spain...
who maintained that it was to remain on show to foreign dignitaries.
External links
- Salottino di porcellana
- 14.3425815)&z=17 Google Maps of the site; with picture