
PORTICI, the Royal Palace
That stretch of coast on the slopes of Vesuvius has already conquered at the beginning of the century the d’Elboeuf Duke, Emmanuel Maurice of Lorraine, who asked the architect Ferdinando Sanfelice to build a magnificent villa on the sea. Settled in Portici, the noble of ancient European lineage, after having known about some ancient pieces discovered digging a well in Herculaneum, near his property, had personally dedicated himself to some research in the subsoil and had found precious finds which had embellished the interiors of his residence, marking this way the beginning of the exploration of the ancient Herculaneum.