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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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