Castel Gandolfo

That Castel Gandolfo belongs to the Castelli Romani is not surprising either in terms of the sound of the words or of geography, around the Colli Albani immediately south-east of the capital. More than a real town, it is a late-mediaeval village, according to some located on the site of the ancient Alba Longa, and famous for the area outside the territory - i.e., strictly speaking, not belonging to the Italian Republic - where the popes of the Catholic Church still live during the summer.

Craft shops and bars that open outdoor tables in fine weather line the Corso leading up to the Piazza della Libertà, a Baroque-style widening with the Fountain and Collegiata di S. Tommaso da Villanova, both the work of Baroque architect and sculptor prince Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The church has impressive stucco work on the high altar and dome, and a Crucifixion by Pietro da Cortona. The square is closed at the end by the papal palace, which started construction in the 1720s by Carlo Maderno, but was later extended several times.

The palace is connected to the Papal Villa that had once belonged to the Barberini family and its park, which extends towards Albano Laziale including the remains of a villa of the Emperor Domitian. The two domes of the Vatican Specola, the astronomical observatory moved here in the 1980s to escape the light pollution of Rome, but then for the same reason moved in the later 1980s to Tucson, in Arizona, USA, can be seen on the roof of the palace. Streets built by the Popes descend through greenery towards Lake Albano.