The documents preserved in the State Archive of Caserta formally cover a period from the second half of the 15th century to the 1970s. However, it is essential to emphasize that, due to the administrative centralism of the ancien régime, almost all significant documentation concerning administration, finance, and justice in the Southern Kingdom until the 18th century must be sought at the State Archive of Naples.
In Caserta, notable records for the period before the 19th century include an extensive and valuable notarial collection spanning four and a half centuries. However, an organized collection of administrative, financial, and judicial documents for the entire province exists only for the 19th and 20th centuries. During this period, Intendants, influenced by French administrative reforms, later Prefects, established bureaucratic apparatuses in each provincial capital as representatives of central power.
The official starting point of the archival heritage is 1465 (the year of the oldest preserved notarial protocol). However, individual documents may date back much earlier. Noteworthy are parchment sheets often used by notaries to bind their protocols. These parchments were recycled, often originating from monasteries that sold them when they had a better copy of the same act or text. Recovered from notarial protocols during restoration, these texts, totalling nearly five hundred, contain writings from earlier eras.
There is a gap in recent administrative documentation due to the suppression of the Terra di Lavoro province in 1927, Caserta's inclusion in the province of Naples during the Fascist era, and the subsequent reestablishment of the province in 1945. Consequently, almost twenty years of administrative records from the Prefecture (and various subordinate offices) are missing, as during this period Caserta belonged to the Prefecture of Naples.
Studies conducted at the local State Archive often need supplementation with documents from central administrations. Additionally, the documentation of the ancient province covers a much larger territory than its current jurisdiction, as frequent and significant territorial changes over the centuries reduced its boundaries. Areas now in the provinces of Latina, Frosinone, and Naples were administratively and judicially part of Terra di Lavoro and are documented in the Caserta Archive.
Information System of the State Archives – Caserta
