Royal Palace

The 17th century Royal Palace that we see today in Naples, has been through many architectural changes since its structural origins began in 1599 when Viceroy Fernandez Ruiz de Castro made the decision to host the sovereign Spanish in first class luxury. The first architect to begin work was Domenico Fontana. For over two hundred years changes continued to be made including those done by architect Gaetano Genovese, who made improvements after a fire in 1838, and then again after the WW II to repair damage caused by bombing.
The Royal Palace was seat to the Napoleon monarchy for three centuries; the early Spanish and Austrian Viceroys, followed by the Bourbon Kings and finishing with the Savoy’s.
A monumental white staircase, decorated with allegorical bas-reliefs leads you up to the Royal Apartment and to the right of the staircase, is the Court Theater, decorated with white and gold stucco. The theater holds 12 exquisite statues, done in papier-mâché, depicting Apollo, Minerva, Mercury and the nine Muses.
The interior of the palace is set around a square courtyard; the courtyard of honor, encircled in a colonnade of stone arches and connected to another two rectangular courtyards; the Belvedere and the Coaches courtyards.
Other admirable aspects of the Royal Palace are the botanical garden filled with an array of trees, plants, and flowers, and the stable and riding grounds which contain iron sculptures.
The exterior of the palace contains finely decorated colonnades and loggias in a pinkish façade done in brick and stone and displays a number of statues dedicated to the rulers of Naples.