Caserta has very ancient origins. During the Longobardic Age (8th century), an urban housing unit still existed called “Casa Hirta” ( in Latin, “Village on the Top “) which became a modern town only in the second half of the 18th century , when King Charles III Bourbons asked architect Luigi Vanvitelli to plan and build his Royal Palace made up of 1.200 rooms. 1.742 windows, 249 meters long and 37,83 meters high. The wonderful building extends over an area of about 47.000 square meters. In the same period, the Bourbons founded many other wonderful sites in the same area that will later be renamed “ Terra di Lavoro” ( “ Land of Labour” ) : the Real Estate of Carditello and the Real Silk Factory of S. Leucio to be considered not only sites for the entertainment of the royal family, but very important places for the industrial development of the territory. In fact, in 1856, at the International Exhibition of Paris, the Bourbon Industry was classified 3rd in the European industrial classification, after England and France. Nowadays, the province of Caserta, also called “ Land of Labour”, extends, from the seaside ( 45 kilometers of the coast) to the mountains, and covers a surface that is the 19 percent of the whole regional territory. With its three consortiums of communes in mountain areas, three regional parks, three natural reserves and numberless sites of historical and artistic interest, is an ideal destination for tourists fond of nature and culture.