Reggia di Caserta being 'ruined' (2)

(ANSA) - Caserta, October 3 - The Bourbon royal palace or Reggia of Caserta is being "ruined" by a visitor surge, unions who work at the famed site said Tuesday.
    "The decorated flooring and the exquisite furniture is under great stress, especially because of the free Sunday openings at the beginning of the month," a union spokesman said, urging the openings to be reduced.
    The palace once used by the kings of Naples, is an 18th-century former royal residence near Naples and a UNESCO World Heritage site open to the public, whose new director Mauro Felicori was appointed through an international application process.
    The Reggia, built to rival Louis XIV's Paris chateau of Versailles by the dynasty that ruled Naples, saw a string of structural collapses in recent years, while its grand waterworks ran dry because of local farmers punching holes in pipes for their crops.