Introduction:

The Royal Stables of Carlos III began with 80 horses that, being Carlos VII of Naples, ordered to bring from Naples to Madrid by land when he was named King of Spain as Carlos III and moved to Madrid. A distance that today is 2,150 km by road and that would then be greater due to the lack of important infrastructure available today. The responsibility of this extraordinary transfer was entrusted to the equerry Luis Papagalli who passed through the cities of Rome, Florence, Turin, Genoa, Lyon, Barcelona, Zaragoza and Guadalajara. Where in addition to taking breaks for people and horses, he used to receive “aid” for travel expenses through representatives of the Royal Treasury.

Material and Methods:

The material used to carry out this work has been different files from the Palacio General Archive, maps and vintage travel books.

Results:

It has been possible to establish the route followed by the expedition based on maps and travel books of the time, on data from signed receipts, and on the reports of the Military Governor of Catalonia and of the person in charge of the “Hacienda del Exercito and Principality of Catalonia”. Likewise, it has been possible to estimate the arrival of the troops to the court in Aranjuez, at the end of April-beginning of May, the mares and Madrid on June 17 the horses. The total cost of the operation has been established at more than 500,000 reais of fleece.