Cathal BarryCathal Barry visits the stunning summer residence of the Popes in Castel Gandolfo
One can’t but wonder how Pope Francis isn’t tempted to take a holiday after a visit to the stunning summer residence available to him in Castel Gandolfo.
The famed Apostolic Palace there has served for centuries as a vacation retreat for many of his predecessors. Not in the habit of holidays, however, Pope Francis prefers to remain at the Vatican despite the summer heat.
While many have heralded the workaholic Pontiff’s inclination to shun such luxuries as an act of solidarity with the poor, residents of Castel Gandolfo feared this particular decision would lead to a loss of revenue for the many shops and restaurants that relied on tourists visiting the town during the summer in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Pope.
It was surely with this in mind that Pope Francis last year decided to open up the spectacular papal gardens at Castel Gandolfo to visitors. And this reporter took full advantage.
Lake Albano
The picturesque town perched on Alban Hills overlooking the volcanic Lake Albano provided the perfect get away from the hustle and bustle of the busy Roman streets during a break from covering the Synod of Bishops in October.
Beginning the day with a two hour tour of the magnificent Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel provided the perfect place to set the scene. It is after all where the cardinals cast their votes for the new Pope in the shadow of Michelangelo’s daunting depiction of The Last Judgement.
The museums display works from the immense collection built up by the Popes throughout the centuries including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world.
The most impressive artwork in this reporter’s humble opinion is to be found in the four Raphael Rooms (Stanze di Raffaello), the Stanza della Segnatura in particular.
There Raphael’s frescoes depict the three greatest categories of the human spirit: Truth, Good and Beauty. Supernatural Truth is illustrated in the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament (theology), while rational Truth is illustrated in the School of Athens (philosophy). Good is expressed in the Cardinal Virtues, while beauty is represented in The Parnassus with Apollo and the Muses.
This room, in fact, provides the perfect prelude to the crescendo that is the Sistine Chapel.
Next up on the agenda was a walking tour of the Vatican Gardens, which were established during the Renaissance and Baroque era and are decorated with an array of fountains and sculptures. The winding path of the well-groomed gardens leads visitors past Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s new home at the Monastero Mater Ecclesiae en route to Vatican Railway, where a train is waiting to transport visitors to Albano Laziale station, just outside Castel Gandolfo.
The train goes a few hundred feet before it passes the bricked Vatican City walls and enters Italian territory. It heads southeast going through Rome’s apartment-block neighbourhoods and graffiti-strewn buildings. Soon it meanders across grassy fields, following an ancient Roman aqueduct along the Appian Way, until it cuts through dark tunnels and opens out onto the hills of the Castelli Romani regional park.
At the final destination, shuttle buses await tourists upon arrival to take them on the short drive to the day’s main event – the Gardens of the Pontifical Villas in Castel Gandolfo.
Castel Gandolfo became a papal summer residence in 1626 when Pope Urban VIII spent his vacation there, as he had done as a cardinal. Many Popes never visited or could not – particularly in the years after the fall of the Papal States and before a treaty was signed with Italy. When the Lateran Pacts were signed in 1929, the Vatican’s ownership was recognised and work began on making the formal gardens as they exist today.
Simply stunning, the pruned-to-perfection gardens are admired from the comfort of a Pullman, fashioned to resemble an old steam train, which departs from the helipad where previous Popes have in the past been seen landing in a ‘chopper’.
The papal property at Castel Gandolfo extends over 135 acres – compared to the 108.7 acres of Vatican City – and includes 17 acres of formal gardens, three residences and a working farm.
The gardens, planted in the 1930s, are a meticulously maintained historic, artistic and botanical treasure. The emphasis on symmetry and geometric topiary – the hedges are trimmed flat or carefully rounded – is meant to reflect and extend the architecture of the main buildings to the outdoors.
The other treasure on the property is the 1st-Century ruins of the summer villa of Roman Emperor Domitian, who reigned in 81-96.
The farm is the real deal too, producing 185 gallons of milk a day, 50,000 eggs a year, honey, olive oil and vegetables. Aside from the cow, hens, rabbits, ducks, the farm is also home to two donkeys that had been gifted to Pope Saint John Paul II, which visitors on this tour got a real kick out of spotting.
Following the hour-long relaxing tour of the gardens, visitors are left to their own devices for lunch. With plenty of classic Italian restaurants to choose from, tourists will be spoilt for choice.
Even after lunch, there still remains time to explore the town albeit unguided. The Apostolic Palace itself is the obvious choice.
It was there that Pope Saint John Paul II controversially had a swimming pool built for him to swim in during the summer months. To those who criticised the pool’s construction, he countered that exercise was important for his health and that electing a new Pope would be even more expensive!
More recently, television stations across the globe showed the villas when Pope Benedict XVI decided to spend the last hours of his papacy in Castel Gandolfo, flying there by helicopter from the Vatican after announcing his shock retirement in February, 2013.
The town of nearly 9,000 residents had been used to hosting Popes since the 17th Century and the last year a Pontiff did not spend at least one summer month in the town was during World War II. In fact, it was during the war that Pope Pius XII first threw open the doors to let in what had been a record number of guests.
Hundreds of people sought shelter within the villa’s walls for a few days in 1943 during a heavy Allied bombing campaign. And when the area became an active war zone in January 1944, the Pope hosted an estimated 12,000 people in the neutral territory of the papal villas.
With so much papal history attached to this tiny town, the disappointment among residents that Pope Francis isn’t keen on a stay is clearly understandable.
However, locals will undoubtedly be kept busy by the recent influx of tourists eager to pay a visit with demand for tours showing no signs of dwindling.
Book early to avoid disappointment!
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