Carditello reborn: 27 million from MiC for final recovery. "We will be the Venaria of the south."

The Royal Site of Carditello is preparing for its final relaunch thanks to a 27 million euro grant allocated by the Ministry of Culture. These resources are in addition to the 30 million already announced last May, in the aftermath of Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano’s visit, bringing the total investment earmarked for the redevelopment of the monumental complex to around 60 million.

The funding will enable the Real Site of Carditello Foundation to complete the rehabilitation of spaces that are still unusable, thus returning full functionality to the historic Bourbon residence. This is a fundamental intervention that embraces restoration, structural consolidation and landscape and environmental redevelopment.

From degradation to rebirth: the redemption of a Bourbon jewel

For years a symbol of neglect and degradation in the so-called “Terra dei fuochi,” Carditello was the victim of vandalistic raids and attempted appropriation by organized crime. Ten years ago, however, a judicial auction averted the risk of the site falling into the hands of the underworld, sanctioning its acquisition by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.

Since then a long road to recovery has begun, culminating in recent months with the allocation of substantial economic resources. The funds now available will be used to restore the still compromised buildings and to improve the energy efficiency and security of the complex.

Specifically, 27,750,566 euros will be earmarked for energy efficiency and natural hazards prevention, with 15.2 million euros dedicated to plant upgrades and 12.4 million earmarked for seismic risk safety.

“This new funding,” says Maurizio Maddaloni, president of the Real Site of Carditello Foundation, “demonstrates Carditello’s achieved status and the centrality it is finally acquiring after years of malfeasance and degradation, becoming a point of reference for institutions, as well as for its objective historical, cultural, environmental and landscape values not only on a national level. We are working hard to make a decisive change of pace and to establish Carditello as a paradigm of a territory and a population that has definitely raised its head. This governance, in less than two years, has demonstrated the necessary determination to pursue objectives with a remarkable ability to be credible and, precisely for this reason, to attract significant resources under the banner of legality, transparency and the utmost rigor, with very clear procedures as in the spirit that distinguishes our administrative action.”

The history and value of a unique site

The Royal Site of Carditello was commissioned by Ferdinand IV of Bourbon and built in 1787 to a design by Francesco Collecini, a student and collaborator of Luigi Vanvitelli. The complex represents a rare example of architecture designed to promote agriculture, animal husbandry and the breeding of royal horses, without neglecting the hunting vocation typical of Bourbon residences.

At the center of the site stands the Reggia, a mansion with neoclassical lines, surrounded by rooms for production activities, woods and a prestigious riding school that once hosted popular equestrian events. The estate, in addition to being the site of royal hunting parties, was also a state-of-the-art production hub, with the presence of the Royal Buffalo Pagliara Industry, dedicated to dairy production.

Once left in ruins, today Carditello is preparing to experience a new season of splendor, thanks to an investment plan that will ensure its complete rebirth.

“We are pursuing our strategy with extreme tenacity, perseverance and foresight, working loyally and in perfect synergy with our partners, the Ministry of Culture and the Campania Region, which not by chance chose Carditello as the headquarters of the Environmental Intelligence Unit for monitoring the territory,” President Maddaloni concludes. “We are focusing on structural, plant and infrastructural interventions, taking ecosystem approaches into consideration and worrying about securing not only the Reggia, the towers and its sheds, but the entire state-owned context with more than 150 thousand sq. m. of appurtenant areas and abandoned buildings to recover the original road fabric. After having inaugurated the Tempietto, carried out the work in the stables, redeveloped the gallop of Ferdinand IV and opened the royal halls, we will now proceed to complete, with a further piece, the mosaic of the great master plan that we have designed with our technical consultants for the revitalization of the entire territorial area that defines the perimeter of the great Real Site of Carditello project. What at the beginning of our mandate might have seemed a visionary utopia, is now beginning to become a concrete and measurable result, achieved through a managerial approach aimed at the priority and urgent recovery of a built heritage that for too long has been left in a condition that endangers safety and its very preservation. Carditello has all the potential to become the Venaria Reale of the south.”

Carditello reborn: 27 million from MiC for final recovery. "We will be the Venaria of the south."

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