Houses

The Royal Palace of Caserta, a long-neglected architectural jewel near Naples, is being returned to its former glory through a vast restoration project, partly financed by the EU's recovery fund.

Nicknamed the "Italian Versailles," after the royal palace near Paris, the Italian UNESCO site boasts 1,200 rooms, 1,742 windows and 123 hectares of lush gardens.

The number of tourists visiting the palaces, mansions and pavilions affiliated to the Presidency of the National Palaces broke a record in 2022 by reaching more than 6 million with an increase of 98 percent compared to 2021.

It has taken 227 years, but Portugal's stunning crown jewels have finally gone on display in a giant strong room inside the country's long unfinished royal palace.

The Ajuda Palace overlooking the capital's historic Belem district was home to Portugal's last royal dynasty, the Braganzas, whose reign ended when the country became a republic in 1910.

The European Court of Human rights on Tuesday ruled that Simeon Sakskoburggotski, the last reigning monarch of Bulgaria, and his sister Maria-Luisa Borisova Chrobok, will not have two properties — a hunting lodge and a summer residency — restituted to them.

Simeon II of Bulgaria at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid in June 2016. Photo: EPA/FERNANDO ALVARADO

The court found that Bulgaria breached their rights by imposing a ban on any commercial exploitation of forestland owned by the siblings. The court said it found that the Bulgarian authorities "failed to justify the broad measures it had instituted to protect the forestland".

On Wednesday, President Klaus Iohannis signed the decree on the appointment of Ioana Mihaila as Minister of Health. The swearing-in ceremony will take place at the Cotroceni Palace, at 6.15 pm. Ioana Mihaila was proposed by USR PLUS (Save Romania Union, Freedom, Unity, Solidarity Party) for this position.

The first batch of vaccines against COVID-19 allocated to Romania will arrive on Friday, in western Nadlac Customs, declared on Thursday, the minister of Internal Affairs, Lucian Bode. "Tomorrow, the first batch allocated to Romania will arrive in Nadlac Customs and we will take over through our structures, we will transport it to Bucharest.

President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday stated, at the Cotroceni Palace, that in Romania and in the European Union the anti-COVID-19 vaccination campaign starts on Sunday. "As for the vaccination campaign, I can confirm that it will start in Romania and in the entire European Union exactly on December 27, Sunday.

The co-chairman of the Alliance for Romanians Union (AUR), George Simion, said on Tuesday that he is participating in the consultations at Cotroceni Palace "from institutional condescension", adding that his formation will not be voting for the Florin Citu Government. "We are now participating out of institutional condescendence.

President Klaus Iohannis announced that the anti-COVID vaccination strategy will be approved, on Friday, in a Government sitting, after which next week, probably on Wednesday, it will be adopted by the Supreme Council for the Country's Defence.