page_title: Luigi Vanvitelli
section_title: Reggia di Caserta
hierarchical_section_title: Luigi Vanvitelli / Reggia di Caserta
caption_attribution_description: English: Gardens of the Royal Palace of Caserta Italiano: Giardini della Reggia di Caserta
context_page_description: Luigi Vanvitelli, known in Dutch as Lodewijk van Wittel, was an Italian engineer and architect. The most prominent 18th-century architect of Italy, he practised a sober classicising academic Late Baroque style that made an easy transition to Neoclassicism.
context_section_description: Vanvitelli's technical and engineering capabilities, together with his sense of scenographic drama led Carlo VII of Naples (later King Carlos III of Spain) to commission the grand Palace of Caserta, intended as a fresh start for administering the ungovernable Kingdom of Naples. Charles VII of Naples desired a palace which would rival the Palace of Versailles and therefore commissioned Vanvitelli to create the most beautiful palace in Europe. Of all the royal palaces in the world, Caserta is by far the largest in terms of volume, with more than 2 million m³.
  Included in the Reggia di Caserta was the fan-shaped Vigna del Ventaglio vineyard. Planted on sloping terrain in the San Leucio frazione near the palace, the vineyard was planted in a semicircle design subdivided into 10 segments (or "fan blades") each planted to a different grape variety. Among the varieties known to have been planted in the Vigna del Ventaglio were native Campanian varieties Pallagrello bianco and Pallagrello nero.
  Vanvitelli worked on the project for the rest of his life, for Charles and for his successor Ferdinand IV. In Naples, he designed the city's royal palace (1753) and some aristocratic palaces, and churches. His engineering talents were exercised as well: for Caserta, he devised the great aqueduct system that brought water to run the cascades and fountains.
  Luigi Vanvitelli died at Caserta in 1773.
caption: Garden Facade
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