Behind Caracciolo Road there is the Villa Comunale (Municipal Villa), a set of public gardens which extends for more than a kilometre between Piazza della Vittoria e Piazza Repubblica (Republic Square, in the middle of Caracciolo promenade). It was built between 1778 and 1780 by the King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, who wanted to create on the promenade a meeting point for the enjoyment of Neapolitan aristocracy and called them the Royal Villa. The first set was opened in 1781 and was afterwards enlarged several times. The Naples' noblemen were so enthusiastic of the villa to call it pompously "Tugliera", Neapolitan version of the famous gardens of "Tuilieres" in Paris, made built by Louis XIV of France.

The first gardens of the Villa had been planned by Carlo Vanvitelli and carried out by the Royal Gardener Abate. Then they were completed during the first half of the 19th century. After joining the Italian State, their name changed into Municipal Villa. Inside the Villa there are several monuments by some Southern sculptors of the late Ottocento and some fountains, among which the most famous is the "fountain of paperelle", so called because it hosted some geese ("papere" in neapolitan). It consists of a large monolithic basin of porphyry (a precious marble) which had been discovered at Paestum and kept since then inside the Cathedral of Salerno.  [ More...]