It is the most evocative and naturalistic Bourbon site after the Royal Palace of Caserta: the Real Site of Carditello it is a few kilometers from the capital city. It has suffered abandonment and looting, but is now recovering. There Foundation who manages it, chaired by Maurizio Maddaloni, is measured against the need to make known the beauty and uniqueness of one of the first farms created by Ferdinand IV of Bourbon in the 700s. There are renovations on the site, but June 4 is not giving up Feast of the Ascension. An ancient equestrian event born in 1792 which attracted thousands of people. A popular event and proximity to the rulers, in addition to the religious celebration. The large riding track (among the first in Europe) will be the scene of many events. The church on the ground floor of one of the buildings will find the Altarpiece made by the painter Charles Brunelli in 1788. The work returns to its original location, after a few moves. Court painter esteemed by the Bourbons, Brunelli also frescoed other royal residences. Carditello, in fact, was one of the 22 sites owned by the family, scattered between Naples and its surroundings.
The site of Carditello in the tourist tours
Next Sunday's event is the most important of the year and serves to relaunch the site in the tourist tours of Southern Italy. The guided tours of the Foundation with young volunteers allow you to appreciate the riding track, the sundials, the monumental fountains, the stables and the royal chapel. There is an air of other times, of places of hard work but also of territorial roots. And speaking of work, the two large sundials on the walls of the buildings were used to mark the working time of the peasants. The rooms on the upper floors are closed due to the works financed by European tenders. Contact with nature open air is insured by the neighbor eucalyptus forest. A part of the wood is dedicated to Don Giuseppe Diana, the priest of Casal di Principe killed by the Camorra in 1994. During the years of neglect – when even the State had forgotten that it owned the site – the home-farm was a defense of legality against obscure interests.
Because it is a place to be rediscovered
For the feast of the Ascension, culture will have its proscenium with theatrical incursions, historical re-enactments, performances by dancers in costume, and an exhibition of period clothes. The vault of the frescoed chapel still bears the signs of abandonment. The FAI has included the complex among the places of the heart. The power of royalty marked the Caserta area for a long time, lived by the Bourbon court as a place of leisure and pleasure contact with nature. The influence of the model farm extended over many hectares in the Caserta countryside, favoring trade and artistic inspiration. The museums of Naples and Caserta are full of landscapes of the "Campania Felix", later renamed as "Terra di lavoro". The Bourbons loved horses and on the occasion of the June 4th festival in Carditello there will be the official stage of the Regional Endurance Horse Championship. Indeed, Charles of Bourbon bought the land precisely to breed purebred horses. It was Ferdinand IV who later gave birth to the farm-company for the cultivation of wheat, for the production of wine, mozzarella and vegetables. Artists and men of talent were certainly not lacking in the apartments of the sovereigns. They were ready to create, build, look for quality materials and skilled labour. A circle of collaborators that still today has the descendants of the Royal House say that the Bourbons with their ability "beautified and modernized the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies". And in Carditello it shows.
