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CASERTA |
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| A short train or bus ride direct from Naples, CASERTA ,
incongruously surrounded by a sprawl of industrial complexes and
warehouses that stretches all the way back to Naples, is known as the "Versailles
of Naples" for its vast eighteenth-century royal palace, which utterly
dominates the town. There's not much point in coming here if you don't
want to see this; if you do, be sure to also see the old village of
Caserta Vecchia , 10km north of the modern town, where the population
lived before the building of the palace. To get there by car, more or
less the only way, do a left onto Piazza Vanvitelli from the palace and
carry straight on to the edge of town, following the road from there up
into the hills. It's now almost entirely deserted but is a bucolic
antidote to Caserta's soulless streets and has a nice main square and
twelfth-century cathedral that is a fine example of southern Norman
architecture. There are a couple of restaurants up here geared to
wedding parties and Sunday excursionists from Naples and Caserta: try A
Marchesina (no closing day), on the right of the street leading off the
square from under the church tower; they do hearty sandwiches and strong
local wine - which you can also buy in the adjacent shop. The local
speciality, incidentally, is wild boar (and wild boar ham - prosciutto
di cinghiale ) - the animals are still plentiful in the surrounding
hills. |
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