The Bourbons' utopian colony and its looms
Just north of Caserta, San Leucio is one of the most original experiments of the Enlightenment. In 1778 King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon founded a royal silk manufactory here, around his hunting lodge, the Belvedere, and in 1789 gave the community of workers its own laws, the "Statute of San Leucio": free schooling for children, equal pay for men and women, houses assigned to families, health care and a pension fund. It was a model of an ideal social community, unusual for the time.
Part of the UNESCO site of the Royal Palace of Caserta, the Belvedere complex can be visited: the royal apartments with frescoes, the bath of Queen Maria Carolina and the museum of silk, with the old wooden looms and spinning machines, some still working. Silk weaving continues today in the area: fabrics from San Leucio have decorated the White House, Buckingham Palace and the Quirinale.
Tip: around the Belvedere you can still see the workers' houses of the eighteenth century; several local firms sell silk fabrics and accessories.
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