Palazzo Reale di Napoli

The Palazzo Reale di Napoli faces Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples, Campania, and was begun in 1600 by the architect Domenico Fontana for the Spanish viceroy, Count of Lemos. It became the main royal residence when Charles of Bourbon established the independent Kingdom of Naples in 1734, and it continued as a seat of the Bourbon kings of the Two Sicilies. After Italian unification it was used by the House of Savoy. The palace's long facade carries eight statues of rulers of Naples in niches, added in the 19th century to represent the dynasties that governed the city, from Roger the Norman to Victor Emmanuel II. Inside, the Historical Apartment is a sequence of state rooms decorated with tapestries, furniture, clocks, paintings and porcelain from the 17th to 19th centuries. The Royal Chapel contains an 18th-century Neapolitan nativity scene, and the grand staircase is a showpiece of 19th-century design. The Court Theatre, with its original decoration, was built in 1768, and the palace houses the National Library's Vittorio Emanuele III collections in its wing. From the Hanging Garden, a terrace on the side of the palace, visitors look out over the Gulf of Naples and the port. The visit is organised as a chronological walk through the main floor, with the rooms arranged to show the changing tastes of the viceroys and kings. The building was damaged during the Second World War and underwent restoration in the second half of the 20th century and more recently, with a number of rooms restored and reopened. The palace has a Spanish colonial and Italian court architecture that illustrates Naples' history as a major European capital before 1860.