I quartieri di cavalleria del Regno di Napoli

[EN] Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, the Kingdom of Naples government decided to build a series of large cavalry barracks in Aversa, Nola, Nocera and Santa Maria di Capua, the major cities in the provinces of Terra di Lavoro and Principato Citeriore. The initiative was part of a general reorganization of the army, commissioned by Charles of Bourbon in the early years of his reign. The king ordered the military engineers to provide for the strengthening of existing fortresses and the construction of new military garrisons, in order to improve the defence and control of the coasts, borders and internal territories of the Kingdom. In February 1740 the chief engineer Giovanni Antonio Medrano drafted a project for a cavalry barrack, which could be identified with a type settlement, because it was not indicated its location. From 1750, the construction of the barracks of Aversa, Nola and Nocera was begun, under the direction of the military engineer Giovanni Battista Bigotti. The cavalry barrack of Santa Maria Maggiore was never built, while in nearby Capua was built an infantry barracks. The downsizing of the initial programme may depend on the simultaneous construction of the Royal Palace of Caserta, which should have included stables and cavalry barracks. These buildings were built in the nineteenth century, many years after the death of Luigi Vanvitelli. The famous architect designed a cavalry barracks in Naples, near the Maddalena bridge, which presented more refined architectural solutions than the simple functionality of similar military buildings.