Royal Palace of Naples

Stand for a moment on the wide stone floor of Piazza del Plebiscito. The square is so open that sound behaves strangely here. A child's shout carries far. Scooters hum somewhere behind you, and gulls call from the direction of the sea. In front of you, a long, calm facade the colour of old terracotta and grey stone runs almost the full width of the square. This is the Royal Palace of Naples. For centuries, the people who ruled southern Italy lived behind these walls.

The story begins with a visit that never happened. In the early seventeenth century, Naples was ruled by Spain through viceroys, governors who acted in the name of a distant king. The viceroy of the time commissioned a grand new palace from the architect Domenico Fontana. It was meant to welcome King Philip the Third of Spain on a royal visit. The building rose, the rooms were prepared... and the king never came. Even so, the palace stayed, and it became the seat of power in the city.

Look along the ground floor of the facade. You will see a steady rhythm of arches, one after another. Now look more closely. Some arches are open, and others are filled in, each holding a tall statue in a niche. In the eighteenth century, the architect Luigi Vanvitelli closed every second arch to strengthen the structure. Those filled arches waited, empty, for more than a century. Then, in the late nineteenth century, they received the figures you see today.

Those eight marble statues are a lesson in Naples history, lined up in order. Each one shows a ruler from a different dynasty that held the city. You can read them from left to right, like chapters. A Norman king comes first, then a Holy Roman Emperor, then a French count of Anjou. Spanish rulers from Aragon follow, along with the emperor Charles the Fifth. After them come a Bourbon king, Napoleon's brother-in-law, and finally the first king of a united Italy.

That last pairing is worth a second look. Joachim Murat was a dashing cavalry general who married Napoleon's sister and ruled Naples for a few years. His statue is often noticed for its theatrical pose. Beside him stands Victor Emmanuel the Second, the king who brought Naples into the new Kingdom of Italy. The square itself takes its name from that moment. A plebiscite, which means a public vote, was held in 1860 to approve union with Italy.

The palace became a true royal home in the eighteenth century. In 1734, Charles of Bourbon took the crown of Naples, and his dynasty ruled here for more than a hundred years. The Bourbons were great builders. They also created the enormous palace at Caserta, north of the city. But this building on the bay stayed at the centre of court life. Ambassadors, artists, and musicians passed through its rooms, and many of the decorations you will see inside date from this era.

When you step inside, the first thing that meets you is the grand staircase. It is wide and bright, and it splits and turns as it climbs. Pale marble in many shades covers the walls and steps. Much of what you see was reworked in the nineteenth century, after a serious fire damaged parts of the palace. Walk up slowly. Notice how the light from above changes the colour of the stone as you climb. The staircase was designed to make every guest feel small... and important at the same time.

At the top, the royal apartments open one after another. There are throne rooms, reception halls, and private chambers. Look for painted ceilings, gilded mirrors, tapestries, and heavy furniture from the Bourbon and later periods. The rooms are arranged in a long sequence, so each doorway frames the next room. This was intentional. A visitor walking through the palace could see deep into the building, and the effect showed off the wealth of the court.

One room surprises many visitors. It is a small court theatre, built in the eighteenth century for the royal family. The architect Ferdinando Fuga created it for the celebrations around the wedding of King Ferdinand the Fourth and Maria Carolina of Austria. Maria Carolina was a sister of Marie Antoinette. It is an intimate space, nothing like a public opera house. Imagine candlelight, a few dozen courtiers, and music played only for the king's guests.

And music is never far away here. Right next to the palace stands the Teatro di San Carlo, one of the oldest working opera houses in Europe. It was built by the Bourbons, and it was physically connected to the palace. The royal family could reach their box without stepping into the street. As you walk around the outside of the building later, look for the point where the theatre and the palace meet.

Here is a second surprise. A large part of this palace is a library. Since the early twentieth century, the National Library of Naples has occupied many of its rooms. Among its treasures are carbonised papyrus scrolls found at Herculaneum, the Roman town buried by Vesuvius. The eruption turned them into fragile black rolls. Scholars have worked on them for generations, and new technology still helps them read words that were sealed for nearly two thousand years.

Before you leave, find the hanging garden and the terraces on the sea side. From there, the view opens towards the bay, the port, and the low shape of Vesuvius on a clear day. You can also see the solid walls of Castel Nuovo, the medieval castle nearby. Stand here for a moment. The kings who lived in this palace looked at this same water and this same volcano every day.

When you walk back into the square, turn around once more. Across from the palace stands the church of San Francesco di Paola, with its great curved colonnade and its dome, inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Between the church and the palace lies all that open stone. People cross it slowly, children run in wide circles, and the light moves across the eight kings in their niches. Take one last look at them... and then let the city pull you back into its streets.