La real riserva di caccia borbonica delle Mortelle di Torre Del Greco, Napoli (1751-­1825)

Regarding the study of the Bourbon’s royal sites, the consolidated historiography has given more importance to those places that have within them relevant architectural episodes or a long history of hunting. Nevertheless, there are overlooked areas that deserve to gain attention;; among them there is the royal hunting reserve of the Mortelle in Torre Del Greco (1751-­1825). Although its short existence as royal site, this place had importance concerning the territorial government and the politics of maintenance and protection of its natural features. The aim of this paper is to define in first place the area of the Mortelle, as well as the mutations from which it was safeguarded by the hunters-­kings, Carlo and Ferdinando of Bourbon. Indeed, the wooded memory of this place has been totally lost with the following construction of the railway and then with the building and urbanistic development of the XX century.