The General Restoration of Ferdinand II

As usual, the palace was completely restored during the kingdom of Ferdinand II .

Since the very beginning, many projects were produced; then in 1836, by a Royal Rescript, the Senior Butler, the Prince of Bisignano ordered a general survey of the Royal Palace to “decide about future work” to be started the subsequent year. «In this way, at least formally, one of the most complex architectural res torations undertaken by the Bourbon family was started and it would be concluded in an almost emblematic way immediately before the death of Ferdinand II» . The entire operation of general restoration was called “Reduction” and the name was not chosen by chance: «in fact, an architectural identity had to be built by eliminating and demolishing all elements constituting the powerful building curtain which run all along the St. Ferdinand and St. Charles’ wing, where the Old Palace of the viceroys was a clashing presence (…)

Gardens

«The policy implemented by Ferdinand II aimed at centralising the various powers of the State within the Palace, and in so doing recuperating a model of representative architecture whose functions could be visible and acknowledged and that could be naturally situated in an urban environment» .

The Royal Palace on the occasion of the presence in Naples of Pope Pious IX (1849) - L. Fergola

The work to be done was a huge one, since the disorderly building produced and stratified over time had caused the survival of all sorts of activities within the palace walls and even the settlement of families who claimed a years-old right of residence in the palace. But the most relevant need to be met was of course the fact that this “General Restoration” had to be in tune with those innovations gradually established in the whole city of Naples after the first Industrial Revolution.

«Technological development had to be necessarily involved in the “Renovation” of the Palace, since this renovation was inserted into a global vision of a Royal Palace that had to be representative but also expression of its time, opened towards those new technologies needed to make up for the lacks of the craftsman systems that had survived unchanged up to the beginning of that century» .

Therefore a radical modernization of services and systems was planned according to the efficiency criteria typical of the dawning industrialisation: gas lighting, advanced fresh-water distribution systems, steam machines for hydraulic services, new drainage and sewer systems, zinc plates instead of roof tiles, advanced foundry products to be used in the construction of the Belvedere Bridge and lighting systems, waterproof plastic products for critical joints, glasses and mirrors with a protective coating etc. were introduced.

Suspended Garden of the Belvedere with a "Large elliptical table", Andrea di Lucca

All this was carried out under a constant control exerted by the king, who created ad hoc committees all along the two decades in which this “Renovation” was realised. Ferdinand II chose Gaetano Genovese as architect to replace Antonio Niccolini who had been the chosen architect of Ferdinand I and Francis I. Gaetano Genovese «worked out and designed a renovation of the Palace according to a grand and beautiful project that he submitted to the King’s approval» . This project was mainly based upon an idea expressed by Fontana, which in turn met the King’s conservative vision.

"The Main Staircase"

We must also remember that in the second half of 1740s, once the royal apartments had been already made habitable, the riding area was “reduced” into an English-style garden - «sinuous and penetrating as the romantic cultural trend suggested» under the lead of the “botanic gardener” Federico Dehnhardt and with the help of a botanist, Gussone. This English garden was counterbalanced by a neoclassic suspended garden , the Loggia del Belvedere, that was hanging in space and overlooked the enchanting landscape of the Gulf. Last but not least, mention must be made of the wonderful “Scala Grande” (Main Staircase) with its “Grande Lamia” (roof), the furnishings and the precious rugs (produced some in Belgium and some at San Leucio). One of these rugs has been recently restored by initiative of Their Royal Highnesses the Princes Charles and Camilla of the Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duke and Duchess of Calabria.