The Caserta Palace
and San Leucio If you
have read the item on the Albergo
dei Poveri, the mammoth Royal Poorhouse in
In the
meantime, work went forward on the
centerpiece of the whole area, the new Royal palace, meant to be the
administrative
hub of the new city (and, indeed, the entire Kingdom of Naples)—and a
physical
hub, as well, since the streets would radiate out as arteries for the
new city.
The construction of the palace was begun in 1752 under the keen eye of
one of the
greatest Italian architects of the century, Luigi
Vanvitelli, who
engraved the
plans on 16 copper plates. Charles, however, abdicated to return to
The
whole finished
project—a utopian town of royal silk weavers living in social harmony
in the
new city centered on the new Royal Palace wherein resided the Platonic
benevolent monarch—never quite made it. Tanucci went into severe
eclipse once
Charles’ wife, Caroline, got a place
on the council of state; there was
a revolution in 1799, then a French invasion in 1806, then a restoration
in 1815,
and so forth, into the new century, leading up to the unification of
Italy. Royal
palaces of defunct dynasties thereafter became quaint museums. The silk
factory, however, did survive long enough to produce cloth and sails
for an
international market. San Leucio now is home
to a silk museum with some original old looms and machinery restored
and on
display. The
social experiment of the workers’ commune, however, far from being
quaint, invites comparison with other later utopian communities of the
day. And
in the post-Napoleonic (back to index) |
The area
around San Leucio
came into the possession of the Bourbons of Naples in 1750 and was
chosen to be
part of Charles’ unusual social experiment, the creation of a new town
of San
Leucio centering around a silk factory housed in the main building,
the
Belvedere, an ex-hunting lodge. Acting on the advice of 
The
town, San Leucio,
however, progressed. In 1778, based on plans drawn up by architect
Francesco
Collecini, the Royal Colony of San Leucio came into being. Later
statutes from
1789 legislated the existence of the town: each family got a house
within the
colony; mandatory schooling for both boys and girls was instituted;
silk
workers put in 11-hour days (less than the 14-hour day common in most
places in
Europe); the houses within the colony had running water, and health
services
were provided for the workers. Men and women worked together and were
treated
equally. Private property was abolished and workers put a portion of
their
pay into a common fund to provide for the needs of all, including the
elderly
and the sick. The colony had an elected assembly. In short, it was an
attempt
to put the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment into practice.