This large roof terrace runs above the low wing overlooking the Belvedere Courtyard on one side and the sea on the other. In the nineteenth century, this housed a small apartment for the king, the royal tapestry manufactory, the armoury, the royal printing house and the architects’ office. Although it was created as soon as the late seventeenth century, it was redesigned in the mid-nineteenth century by architect Gaetano Genovese, who conceived it as a connection between the State Apartments and the king’s and queen’s private rooms. During World War II the garden was partly destroyed and subsequently restored; the iron bridge connecting it to the Vestibule was reconstructed only in 2009.
The formal layout, with twelve flowerbeds on each side and trellised walkways, is typical of the Italian garden. The greenery consists of various Mediterranean shrubs and climbing plants, intended to create shaded walkways. In the centre, a marble table with water jets and planters surrounded by Neoclassical marble benches acts as a focal point. From the terrace the view embraces the entire gulf of Naples from the Sorrento peninsula and Vesuvius on the left to the island of Capri on the right.
