Luigi Vanvitelli

Luigi Vanvitelli (1700–1773), born in Naples to the Dutch painter Caspar van Wittel, was Italy's leading architect of the mid-eighteenth century, bridging Late Baroque and Neoclassicism. He began as a history painter, worked at St Peter's in Rome from 1724, and from 1733 built the lazaretto at Ancona.

In 1750 Charles VII of Naples summoned him; his 1751 design for the Royal Palace of Caserta, with four courtyards, a grand staircase and a park axis, became the largest palace of its age and occupied him until his death in 1773. His son Carlo completed the work.