The Villa Carafa of Belvedere, formerly known as Palazzo Vandeneynden, and also known as Villa Belvedere, is a monumental villa in Naples, located in the hilly Vomero district. The villa was commissioned by the powerful magnate, nobleman and art collector Ferdinando Vandeneynden, also known as Ferdinand van den Eynde, from the Carthusian architect Bonaventura Presti. History The villa was built at the end of 17th century as an "out of town" palace by the wealthy Flemish merchant and banker (who was awarded the title of Marquis of Castelnuovo and married the noblewoman Olimpia Piccolomini, nephew of Cardinal Celio) Ferdinando Vandeneynden, or Ferdinand van den Eynde, son of the wealthy merchant Jan van den Eynde, on the western slope of the Vomero hill, in what is now via Belvedere. The Netherlandish nobleman, whose father had chosen Naples as his residence and the place wherein establishing his own business (like many other powerful Northern European traders), had previously commissioned from a Carthusian monk the renovation of numerous patrician residences in the city (among which the Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano, which had been acquired by his father Jan); however, Villa Belvedere, which Van den Eynde ordered him to realize from scratch, is perhaps the only work entirely done by this architect-friar, whose name was Bonaventura Presti. The Vandeneynden palace was built between 1671 and 1673 according to the design of Presti. Located at the end of a long tree-lined avenue, with its entrance on the via del Vomero (via Belvedere), the building develops on two levels with a polygonal system with a courtyard closed on three sides, opening into a loggia to the west, in the direction of the hill of Posillipo. The whole project was based essentially on perspective, and it was strongly influenced by the surrounding landscape, with the Gulf of Naples to the south, and Posillipo to the west. The Vandeneynden palace became Villa Carafa di Belvedere in 1688, when Elizabeth, daughter of the Marquis Vandeneynden, who died of consumption in 1674, married Charles Carafa IV, Prince of Belvedere. The Carafas improved the villa by adding loggias overlooking the panorama of the gulf. Along the tree-lined avenue, which, as mentioned, constituted the access to the villa, sheds and stables were arranged, as well as an elegant 18th-century well in marble. The tuff necessary to carry out these alterations was taken from a part of the hill beyond the large terrace, wherein