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 Regions in Italy freccina Region Lazio >  Province Roma: Castel Gandolfo

province of RomaCastel Gandolfo

Province of Roma, Lazio (Latium) Region, Italy

Castel Gandolfo, one of the hill towns known as the Castelli Romani, is a small town about 30 km south-east of Rome that occupies a height overlooking Lake Albano, best known as the summer residence of the Pope.

Info

Altitude: 380 m a.s.l -- Population: about 8,000 inhabitants -- Zip/postal code: 00040 -- Phone Area Code: 06

History: Castel Gandolfo, probably occupies the site of ancient Alba Longa, capital of the Sabine league. Its name is derived from a fortification of the ducal Gandolfi family in the 12th century, which passed to the Savelli family from whom the Apostolic Camera purchased it in 1596 for 150,000 scudi. Pope Clement VIII was the first pope to come to Castel Gandolfo, but the rebuilding of the old castle was the project of Urban VIII who first came in 1626.

What to see:

  • The Pope's residence is a 17th-century building designed by Carlo Maderno for Pope Urban VIII. The papal palace, and the adjoining Villa Barbarini that was added to the complex by Pius XI have enjoyed extraterritorial rights since the 1929 treaty with Mussolini. The site of the papal palace, rebuilt on the ruins of the former castle, partly rises on the foundations of a summer residence of the Emperor Domitian that occupied 14 square km (5.4 square miles). In the palace's inner courtyard is a Roman bust depicting Polyphemus, the Cyclops from whose cave Ulysses escaped; it was found in the nymphaeum of the Imperial villa's gardens, an artificially constructed grotto of the crater lake's outlet.
  • The parish church of St Thomas of Villanova designed by Bernini on the order of Pope Alexander VII.

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