San Leucio resort

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex¹
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	Italy
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv
Identification	#549
Region2	Europe and North America
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1997 21st WH Committee Session
WH link:	http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/549
1 Name as officially inscribed on the WH List 2 As classified officially by UNESCO

San Leucio resort, or San Leucio Complex, is an old silk factory in San Leucio, a frazione of the comune of Caserta, Campania, Italy. It is located 3.5 km north-west of Caserta, at 145 m above sea level.

[edit] History

In 1750 Charles VII of Naples selected this place, originally seat of a hunting palace of the Acquaviva family (now restored, and known as Palazzo del Belvedere), for an unusual social and tecnological experiment, a different model of production based on technical innovation and alert to the needs of workers. In the first time San Leucio resort was a place for pleasure and a reserve of hunt of the crown, built on the ruins of Saint Leucio church, providing of an aqueduct to bring water to the waterfalls of the Royal Caserta Palace, planned by Vanvitelli. The son of Charles, Ferdinand I, preferred to take refuge here, in hunting lodge built for him. He was a very skillful hunter who disliked the pleasures and luxury of the court life: here Charles and the young king Ferdinand built and set up a factory to make silk cloths. The complex was transformed into a palace for silk-works and extended in an industrial buildings, a unique case in late 18th century in Europe. The architect Francesco Collecini planned these industrial buildings where the noisy looms were installed next to the royal apartments and a salon was used to make a church for the workers.

After a new village had to be built for the workers, a large community of silk weavers grew into this industrial town and in 1789 it was called the "Real Colonia dei Setaioli" (the Silk Weavers Royal Colony). The king had planned to expand it into a true new city, called Ferdinandopoli, but the project was halted by the French invasion.

In San Leucio the most advanced technologies known in Europe at the time were used throughout the process to obtain the finished products. The mewbers of the colony had a privileged status with a modern social security system. The revolution of 1799 stopped the complete realization of the Ferdinandopoli, but San Leucio resort had further growth during the French rule from 1806 to 1815.

[edit] Today

The heritage of King Ferdinand still survives today in the local silk and textile firms, which work on an international scale to elite foreign clients as the Buckingham Palace, the White House, the Quirinale Palace, the Palazzo Chigi.

San Leucio resort is home to a Living Silk Museum with some original old looms and machinery restored and displaied inside the Belvedere courtyard, showing all the phases of silk productions, from the old looms and machinery to finished products.

From 1997 San Leucio resort is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in Europe as part of the site 18th Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli and the San Leucio Complex.

From 1999 in summer months at San Leucio the Leuciana Festival is held, to promote the Belvedere of San Leucio and its park.