All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it.
Notes:
Page revised in February 2024.
All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it.
Notes:
Page revised in February 2024.
But Juno, gazed at the plain, looking from the top of a hill
(called Alban now, then without name, honour or glory)
at the twin ranks of Laurentum and Troy, and Latinus's city.
Virgil - The Aeneid - Book XII. Translation by A. S. Kline
Lake Albano and Mount Albano seen from Castel Gandolfo
Lake Albano and Mount Albano were at the centre of the territory controlled by the Latins, the Italic tribe to whom Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome, belonged.
The volcanic origin of the lake caused sudden variations of its water level which puzzled the Romans:
In the long and bitter war against Veii, the Romans (..) were unable to capture the city. (..) By a remarkable prodigy the immortal gods showed the Romans a path to victory they longed for. All of a sudden, the Alban Lake rose beyond its normal water level, although its volume had not been increased by rain from heaven nor added to by the flooding of any river. Envoys were sent to the Delphic oracle to find an explanation for this mystery, and they brought back the instruction of the oracle; the Romans should release the water of that lake and flood the fields. By this means, Veii would come under the power of the Roman people.
Valerius Maximus: Memorable Deeds and Sayings - Book I.6.2. Transl. by Henry John Walker
The Romans excavated an underground outlet to carry off the water of the lake when it exceeded a certain level; the tunnel has a length of almost a mile and it is regarded as one of the first examples of the engineering skills of the ancient Romans. They did the same at Lake Fucino in the Ist century AD.
Notwithstanding its closeness to Rome, the lake is still surrounded by woods on most of its southern half, owing to landscape protection regulations which have included the area in a regional natural park.
The road to Castel Gandolfo, winding around the Alban lake, overshadowed by noble forests, and with fine views of the heights on the opposite side, is of such varied beauty that the pleasure of passing over it only once is alloyed by the thought that it is not to be traversed a second time.
George Stillman Hillard - Six Months in Italy in 1847-1848
Castel Gandolfo owes its name to a castle built by the Gandolfi, a family of Genoese origin, in the XIIth century; in the XIIIth century the castle was acquired by the Savelli, a very powerful Roman family to whom two popes of that century belonged
(Honorius III and Honorius IV).
The Savelli owned several other fiefdoms in the area, e.g. Rocca Priora and Ariccia, but the wealth of the family gradually declined and in 1596 they had so many debts that
Castel Gandolfo was confiscated by the Camera Apostolica; the town became a direct possession of the Papal State.
Musei Vaticani: architectural elements from the villa of Emperor Domitian
Castel Gandolfo is located on the top of the ridge surrounding Lake Albano; while the side towards the lake is precipitous, that towards Rome has a gentle slope and it was chosen by Emperor Domitian to build a large villa there. Some of its facilities e.g. an amphitheatre and a nymphaeum can be seen at Albano.
Main gate of the town and bastion built by Pope Urban VIII; the photo shows also a passage between the Papal Palace and other properties of the Holy See which was built in the 1930s
In the late XVIth century several important Roman families followed the example of Domitian and built villas in the area and in particular at Frascati. Cardinal Maffeo Barberini chose Castel Gandolfo for his summer holidays; in 1623 he became Pope Urban VIII and he commissioned the construction of a palace suitable for the needs and rank of a pope; he ordered its entrance to be protected by a round tower projecting from its external walls (he did the same at Palazzo del Quirinale).
The design of the palace was commissioned to Carlo Maderno, to whom Pope Urban VIII had also requested the design of
Palazzo Barberini in Rome. The palace was completed during the pontificate of Pope Alexander VII by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
The interior of the palace is covered in some detail in a separate page.
(left) Palazzo Pontificio; (right) detail showing the clock with the "Italian hour"
In the inscription Pope Alexander VII placed below his coat of arms (OB COELI SOLIQUE SALUBRITATEM AMOENITATEMQUE ANIMO CORPORIQUE BREVI SECESSU REFICIENDI) he celebrated the positive effects of the pleasantness and salubrity of Castel Gandolfo on body and soul. The small balcony was utilized for blessings when the Popes were staying in the palace. The clock is still split into six sections following the time counting system which was in place in Italy until Napoleon imposed the move to the European system: it was reinstated briefly in the Papal State in 1815-1846.
S. Tommaso di Villanova: (left) façade; (right) dome
Not until he was almost sixty year old had Bernini a chance of showing his skill as a
designer of churches. His three churches at Castelgandolfo and Ariccia and S. Andrea
al Quirinale in Rome rose almost simultaneously. In spite of their small size, they are of
great importance not only for their intrinsic qualities but also because of their extraordinary influence. (..)
Bernini erected his three churches over the three most
familiar centralized plans, the Greek cross, the circle (S. Maria dell'Assunzione at Ariccia), and
the oval (S. Andrea al Quirinale). The earliest of them, the church at Castelgandolfo, built between 1658 and 1661, is a simple Greek
cross, reminiscent of Renaissance churches (you may wish to see Madonna di S. Biagio at Montepulciano). (..) But compared with them the height has been considerably increased and the dome has
been given absolute predominance.
Rudolf Wittkower - Art and Architecture in Italy - 1600-1750 Penguin Books
In 1658 Pope Alexander VII commissioned Bernini the erection of a church dedicated to St. Thomas of Villanova,
a XVIth century Spanish Augustinian friar, in the main square of Castel Gandolfo. The choice of this saint was due to the fact that he was canonized by the Pope in that same year. Thomas was known as the "father of the poor" for his great charity to the poor.
S. Tommaso di Villanova: interior of the dome
A spirit of austerity prevails in the interior up to the sharply chiselled ring
above the arches. But in the zone of the vaulting Bernini abandoned his self-imposed
moderation. Spirited putti, supporting large medallions, are seated on the
broken pediments over the windows of the drum. These pediments, breaking into the
dome, soften the division between drum and vault. Realistic garlands form links between the putti, and the lively and flexible girdle thus created appears like a pointed reversal of the pure geometry of the ring under the drum. (..) Since the coffers seem to continue behind the reliefs, the latter appear to hover in the wide expanse of the dome. Wittkower
For the decoration of S. Tommaso di Villanova Bernini relied on a skilled team of assistants and in particular on
Antonio Raggi, a sculptor extremely talented in designing aerial stucco statues (you can see other works by Raggi in the ceiling of il Gesù).
(left) Main altar with a typical baroque design and a painting by Pietro da Cortona; (right) The Charity of St. Thomas of Villanova by Giacinto Geminiani (see the same subject in a statue by Melchiorre Caffà at S. Agostino and other works by Geminiani at Battistero Lateranense and S. Maria ai Monti)
The church is not large, but had for its architect Cavalier Bernini, who adorned it with a cupola, which produces an excellent effect whenever Castel Gandolfo is seen at a distance: it has indeed altogether a very picturesque appearance, as the pope's palace, with the lofty pines near it, groups well with the adjoining scenery. Over the high altar is an oval picture, the work of Pietro da Cortona; and there is also in this church an altar-piece by Carlo Maratti.
Ellis Cornelia Knight - Description of Latium: or, La Campagna di Roma - 1805
S. Tommaso di Villanova: (left) interior of the façade: coat of arms and inscription of Pope Alexander VII;
(right) coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI and in the small image another of his coats of arms on a modern gate near
Porta Angelica
The oldest and finest coat of arms inside the church is that of Pope Alexander VII. Many of his successors placed their coat of arms above an inscription explaining what they had done for the maintenance and embellishment of the church and in 2011 Pope Benedict XVI followed the tradition. For the occasion he authorized an exception to his decision to innovate papal coats of arms by replacing the triple crown with a mitre; the inscription makes reference to the sixtieth anniversary of his ordainment and to improvements he made by having the church repainted in its original light colour (something which has occurred in many other churches and palaces of Rome).
Inscriptions celebrating works done by Pope Clement XI (below) and by
Pope Clement XIV (above) to improve the access to the main street
Castel Gandolfo October 12th 1787. We live here as in a watering place; only in the morning
I keep out of the way for the sake of drawing; then you
must give all the day to society, which for the short time
I am to be here is all very well for me. I see people once
more without any great loss of time, and a great number
at once. (..) It is a merry company, and we are never at a loss for something to
laugh at. In the evening we go to the play, where
Punchinello is the principal figure.
J. W. Goethe - Italian Journey - translation by Charles Nisbet
The popes did not limit themselves to building the palace and the church, but they also redesigned the urban layout of Castel Gandolfo which is based on two parallel straight streets with many houses which were rented for the villeggiatura.
The two inscriptions by Pope Clement XI (1712) and Pope Clement XIV (1773) are interesting because they show the change in style which took place in the second half of the XVIIIth century. The first inscription
follows the pattern of a cartouche, a tablet representing a scroll with rolled-up ends, while the second inscription has a much sober
ancient Roman format, which was adopted in 1743 for marking the boundaries of the Roman Rioni.
(left) Coat of arms of Pope John XXIII in a modern meeting hall; (centre) Cappella di Faenza (a gift from Faenza, a town known for its earthenware)
with a coat of arms of Pope John Paul II; (right) bronze relief portraying Pope Benedict XVI on a new door in S. Tommaso di Villanova
In 1929 the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See reached an agreement to settle the quarrel about the 1870 annexation of the Papal State to Italy.
The Papal Palace at Castel Gandolfo and a series of other adjoining properties became extraterritorial appendages of the Vatican City State.
Pope Pius XI, the ruling pope at the time of the agreement, made several improvements to the papal properties and in 1934 he relocated the Vatican Astronomical Observatory
to Castel Gandolfo.
Each summer the popes of the XXth century left Rome for Castel Gandolfo, but Pope John Paul II often chose to spend a few weeks on the Alps instead.
In 2011 Pope Benedict XVI spent almost three months at Castel Gandolfo, probably influenced by his fellow countryman Goethe who was enthusiastic about the days he spent there in 1787. Pope Francis has discontinued this tradition and today the Papal Palace houses a museum.
There is a charming walk, about a mile
in length, along the side of the lake from
Castel Gondolfo to the town of Albano.
The lake of Albano is an oval piece of
water whose margin is finely adorned with groves and trees of various verdure, beautifully reflected from the transparent bosom of the lake; and which, with the surrounding hills, and the Castel
Gondolfo which crowns one of them, has
a fine picturesque effect.
John Moore - A View of Society and Manners in Italy - 1781
The road from Castel Gandolfo to Albano on the border of the lake, is called the "Upper Gallery," and is shaded by a double row of lofty trees, little more than a mile in length, and finishing at the convent of Capucins.
Ellis Cornelia Knight - Description of Latium: or, La Campagna di Roma - 1805
View towards the sea from Galleria di Sotto
There are two roads linking Castel Gandolfo with Albano and they are both called Galleria because the trees which flank them cover the view of the sky. While Galleria di Sotto (lower gallery) has lost its beauty because of the traffic, Galleria di Sopra (upper gallery) is still a very attractive promenade with views over the lake.
(left) Villa Barberini; (centre) coat of arms of the Barberini Colonna; (right) statue of a bear, a symbol of the Orsini, at
the entrance of a property along Galleria di Sopra
The privilege of extraterritoriality applies also to a villa which belonged to the Barberini who decorated it with bees, their heraldic symbol (which is shown in the image used as background for this page). The villa was owned by Taddeo Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII. In 1627 he married Anna Colonna and two years later he bought the fiefdom of Palestrina from his wife's family.
(left) Chiesa del Convento dei Riformati; (right) Stations of the Cross near the church
Pope Urban VIII founded Collegio di Propaganda Fide to coordinate the missionary efforts of the Roman Catholic Church in the world. The institution had a detached college at Castel Gandolfo in a former Franciscan monastery with a small church along Galleria di Sopra. In January 1944 Allied forces landed at Anzio with the objective of accelerating the seizure of Rome. The Germans moved two Krupp K5, heavy railway guns, to the railway linking Rome to Albano and were able to shell the Anzio beachhead; the guns were hidden inside a tunnel between Castel Gandolfo and Albano when they were not utilized. This led to repeated Allied bombings of Albano; many inhabitants fled to the college at Castel Gandolfo which enjoyed extraterritorial status, but on February 10 the building was bombed causing more than 500 victims.
Visit the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo.
Next step in your tour of the Environs of Rome: Ariccia
Excerpts from Giuseppe Vasi 1761 Itinerary related to Castel Gandolfo:
Giuseppe Vasi
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