Visiting Italy again was a true blessing. It was so soon after my last trip. I stayed with family this time, which made it even more special. Over the course of one week, I saw many locations. I never heard about these places before. Discovering them is my favorite part of traveling. Uncovering hidden gems farther away from the big-ticket items brings a different sense of joy.

The first stop was the Royal Palace of Caserta. This palace is located about 30 minutes north of Naples. It is amazingly huge and is the largest palace complex constructed during the 18th century in Europe. With over 1,000 rooms and 300 acres of land, visitors need plenty of time to visit this beautiful location. The entrance grounds were difficult to appreciate. I snapped a picture of the poster’s aerial shot to get a better view.

After walking through the main archway, I realized everything on ground level was basically a covered porch. The living space was one level above!

Before exploring the inside, we made our way through this huge porch to the back of the palace. We decided to take the tram all the way up the hill at the back of the palace grounds. Since rain was forecasted, we decided to explore outdoors first. This is the view looking back at the palace!

The grounds were spectacular. We saw man-made grottoes. We also saw items recovered from Pompeii that were relocated here a few hundred years ago.

After taking the tram back to the palace, it was time to go inside. This meant traveling up 2 flights of stairs to visit the livable portion.

There was so much to see in every room. Stunning stonework, beautiful paintings, and amazing geometrical designs were found everywhere.

This location did not disappoint. Tickets were very reasonable and visitors can easily spend most of the day here. The covered porch area had a cafe with drinks and snacks. Restaurants were just a few minutes away on foot. If you are in the area, consider stopping by!