Palazzo Paternò

A stone's throw from the Royal Palace, on the old Via San Carlo, stands Palazzo Paternò, built between 1765 and 1775 for the noble Paternò family, who wanted to follow the Bourbon court to the new royal city. The design is attributed to the architect Gaetano Barba, who also worked on the Certosa di Padula. The family rarely lived there, and over time the palazzo also housed the archbishop's residence and a library.We love the grand staircase, very similar to the one at Padula, with the motif of a circle inscribed in a rectangle repeated on the doorways of the piano nobile. Here a long sequence of frescoed halls opens up, with marble busts on brackets. The courtyard ends in an exedra with an 18th-century fountain. We recommend combining it with a visit to the Royal Palace to complete the picture of Bourbon Caserta.