Italy is so replete with Historic buildings, that it is common to have Army officers, police academies, tax inspectors and dentists to have offices in them.  One of them,  the Palace of Caserta is an immense Baroque compound designed in the 18th century by Luigi Vanvitelli for the Bourbon king of Naples to rival Versailles, which  has about 700 rooms, Caserta has 1,200, as well as one of the most opulent parks in Europe, which includes a 265-foot cascade. But the Italian palace attracts a little over 500,000 visitors a year, while Versailles takes in about five million, partially because there is SO Much to see to Italy, that even the GREAT get lost in the Cornucopia.  

THERE is something subversively appealing about the Italian art of desecration - the use, or some would say, misuse of historic places and cultural treasures. So much of Italy is ancient, magnificent, priceless and also serviceable. 

When I was Rome bureau chief in the late ?90s, I visited the Palazzo Farnese, a Renaissance palace designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Michelangelo. It was a busy place. It?s the French embassy, and in the ambassador?s office, junior diplomats smoked and fetched faxes underneath giant frescoes by Francesco Salviati and Taddeo Zuccari. 

One enterprising man in Rome unearthed a Roman sarcophagus beneath his basement and used it as a wet bar. Army officers, police academies, tax inspectors and dentists have offices in historic buildings. 

Occasionally, the Italian culture ministry tries to intervene, as it did for the Palace of Caserta in 1998 - the year after it was named a World Heritage site by Unesco. 

Caserta is one of those weirdly overlooked treasures, an immense Baroque compound designed in the 18th century by Luigi Vanvitelli for the Bourbon king of Naples to rival Versailles. The French palace has about 700 rooms, Caserta has 1,200, as well as one of the most opulent parks in Europe, which includes a 265-foot cascade. But the Italian palace attracts a little over 500,000 visitors a year, while Versailles takes in about five million. 

That?s not so surprising. Caserta is magnificent, breathtakingly so, and riddled with history. (Germany signed the terms of unconditional surrender of its forces in Italy at the palace in April 1945.) But it is inland of Naples and low on most foreign tourists? must-see list, long after Venice, Florence, St. Peter?s, Assisi or even the leaning tower of Pisa. 

I went because the Italian government of the moment had finally decided to evict the last tenant, the Italian Air Force. The air force training school for noncommissioned officers had had its headquarters inside the palace since before World War II. When I visited, 44 rooms were open to the public, and 800 were occupied by air force personnel. Caretakers complained that the cadets? showers were leaking into 18th-century ceiling frescos. 

I was completely staggered by the outsize splendor ? Caserta is known as the swan song of Baroque architecture. Some features were familiar: the marble staircase was a stand in for the Vatican in ?Angels and Demons? and was also used by George Lucas for his "Star Wars" movies. Mostly, touring Caserta was like walking through the looking glass into an 18th-century royal folly. 

But I also loved the incongruity of place and purpose. Art lovers shudder at the l?se-majest?, but I was tickled at the thought of cadets brushing their teeth amid crystal chandeliers and doing training exercises under the smoky glances of Venus and Adonis statuary. Though in truth, when I was there I didn?t see much sign of martial life, which could have been my timing, or the mood of the Italian military at that time. But the dual use added a frisson of paradox " and human nature"  to all those empty mirrored halls and gold-encrusted ceilings. 

I had rushed down to Caserta, na?vely believing that the air force would soon be evicted. Many Italian governments have formed and gone since then, but the academy is still entrenched. And I would love to go back and see that everything is still as it was in Caserta, and wasn?t supposed to be. 

Italy is so replete with Historic buildings, that it is common to have Army officers, police academies, tax inspectors and dentists to have offices in them.  One of them,  the Palace of Caserta is an immense Baroque compound designed in the 18th century by Luigi Vanvitelli for the Bourbon king of Naples to rival Versailles, which  has about 700 rooms, Caserta has 1,200, as well as one of the most opulent parks in Europe, which includes a 265-foot cascade. But the Italian palace attracts a little over 500,000 visitors a year, while Versailles takes in about five million, partially because there is SO Much to see to Italy, that even the GREAT get lost in the Cornucopia.  

THERE is something subversively appealing about the Italian art of desecration - the use, or some would say, misuse of historic places and cultural treasures. So much of Italy is ancient, magnificent, priceless and also serviceable. 

When I was Rome bureau chief in the late ?90s, I visited the Palazzo Farnese, a Renaissance palace designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Michelangelo. It was a busy place. It?s the French embassy, and in the ambassador?s office, junior diplomats smoked and fetched faxes underneath giant frescoes by Francesco Salviati and Taddeo Zuccari. 

One enterprising man in Rome unearthed a Roman sarcophagus beneath his basement and used it as a wet bar. Army officers, police academies, tax inspectors and dentists have offices in historic buildings. 

Occasionally, the Italian culture ministry tries to intervene, as it did for the Palace of Caserta in 1998 - the year after it was named a World Heritage site by Unesco. 

Caserta is one of those weirdly overlooked treasures, an immense Baroque compound designed in the 18th century by Luigi Vanvitelli for the Bourbon king of Naples to rival Versailles. The French palace has about 700 rooms, Caserta has 1,200, as well as one of the most opulent parks in Europe, which includes a 265-foot cascade. But the Italian palace attracts a little over 500,000 visitors a year, while Versailles takes in about five million. 

That?s not so surprising. Caserta is magnificent, breathtakingly so, and riddled with history. (Germany signed the terms of unconditional surrender of its forces in Italy at the palace in April 1945.) But it is inland of Naples and low on most foreign tourists? must-see list, long after Venice, Florence, St. Peter?s, Assisi or even the leaning tower of Pisa. 

I went because the Italian government of the moment had finally decided to evict the last tenant, the Italian Air Force. The air force training school for noncommissioned officers had had its headquarters inside the palace since before World War II. When I visited, 44 rooms were open to the public, and 800 were occupied by air force personnel. Caretakers complained that the cadets? showers were leaking into 18th-century ceiling frescos. 

I was completely staggered by the outsize splendor ? Caserta is known as the swan song of Baroque architecture. Some features were familiar: the marble staircase was a stand in for the Vatican in ?Angels and Demons? and was also used by George Lucas for his "Star Wars" movies. Mostly, touring Caserta was like walking through the looking glass into an 18th-century royal folly. 

But I also loved the incongruity of place and purpose. Art lovers shudder at the l?se-majest?, but I was tickled at the thought of cadets brushing their teeth amid crystal chandeliers and doing training exercises under the smoky glances of Venus and Adonis statuary. Though in truth, when I was there I didn?t see much sign of martial life, which could have been my timing, or the mood of the Italian military at that time. But the dual use added a frisson of paradox " and human nature"  to all those empty mirrored halls and gold-encrusted ceilings. 

I had rushed down to Caserta, na?vely believing that the air force would soon be evicted. Many Italian governments have formed and gone since then, but the academy is still entrenched. And I would love to go back and see that everything is still as it was in Caserta, and wasn?t supposed to be. 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/travel/09caserta.html?pagewanted=print
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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