Casina Vanvitelliana

History

Starting in 1752, the area of Fusaro Lake, then sparsely inhabited, became the hunting and fishing reserve of the Bourbons, who entrusted Luigi Vanvitelli with the first works for the transformation of the area.

After the accession of Ferdinand IV, the interventions were completed by Carlo Vanvitelli, Luigi's son, who in 1782 built the Royal Hunting Lodge on the lake, a short distance from the shore.

The building, known as the Casina Vanvitelliana, was used as a residence for distinguished guests, including Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, who stayed there in May 1819.

The building also hosted Gioachino Rossini and, more recently, Italian President Luigi Einaudi. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited Lake Fusaro, although his journey to Naples and its surroundings took place in 1770, when the transformation of the Fusaro area had already begun but the Casina had not yet been built.

Description

From an architectural point of view, the Casina is considered one of the finest examples of 18th-century architecture, with some references to the layout of the Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi, designed several years earlier by Filippo Juvarra through the use of sculptural volumes and large windows.

The building commissioned by the Bourbons has a highly articulated plan, consisting of three octagonal structures intersecting one above the other and narrowing in the form of a pagoda, with large windows arranged on two levels. From the Circular Hall on the lower floor, animated during the Bourbon era by social and courtly gatherings, a staircase leads to the piano nobile, in the so-called Hall of Wonders, accessible exclusively to the royal family. Here the Bourbons could relax in a more private setting, which also included a service room and a private study, while enjoying the surrounding landscape, also depicted in the wall paintings dedicated to the Four Seasons, created by the vedutista Jakob Philipp Hackert.