Palazzo Reale, Naples

Palazzo Reale is the historic royal palace occupying Piazza del Plebiscito, with its main entrance opening onto the square. The complex also incorporates gardens and the Teatro di San Carlo, with additional access points from Piazza Trieste e Trento, Piazza del Municipio, and Via Acton. Domenico Fontana began this grand residence in 1600 for the Spanish viceroys, giving it a late-Renaissance character with a courtyard and an interior loggia.

Its purpose was display rather than defense: the broad space before it served military parades and public gatherings. The building then became the Bourbon royal residence from 1734, remaining so for more than a hundred years. During French rule, Joseph Bonaparte and Joachim Murat lived here, and the interiors received extensive redecoration.

A fire in 1837 led Gaetano Genovese to rebuild almost the entire palace and unite its appearance. After Italian unification, the Savoy dynasty held it until Victor Emmanuel III transferred it to the state in 1919. Today, its western half presents the Royal Apartments as a museum, while its eastern half houses the National Library. Look along the palace frontage for the scale of a residence designed to impress, not to hide.