CASTEL GANDOLFO

ONLY 40 MINUTES FROM OUR HOTEL

Castel Gandolfo (8 940 inhabitants) is an Italian town in the metropolitan city of Roma Capitale, in the Castelli Romani area. Castel Gandolfo

Another stop on this tour for the Park of the Roman Castles is Castel Gandolfo, overlooking Lake Albano and a holiday destination for popes, cardinals and prelates of the Roman curia who stayed in the ancient residence of the Savelli family, transformed in 1623 by Urban VII in the palace Papal. Within the latter is the very important astronomical observatory, known as the "Vatican specola".

There are numerous valuable monuments in the country: from the church of San Tommaso da Villanova, built by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, to the sixteenth-century Porta Romana; from the majestic villa Clodio, erected in the Republican period to the Baths of Diana, wanted by the emperor Domitian. Of particular interest and beauty are the remains of the ancient villas of Castel Gandolfo, such as the Albanum Domitiani, Domiziano's imposing country residence; Villa Barberini and Villa Cybo, connected by an overpass and then with a loggia leading back to the papal palace.

The town is part of the circuit of the most beautiful villages in Italy.

Castel Gandolfo is known above all for the presence of the summer residence of the popes, to which they crown many other summer residences, villas and villas built starting from the seventeenth century. Its territory includes almost all the coastal arch of Lake Albano, which hosts among other things the CONI rowing stadium.

There are also various places of archaeological interest (including the emissary of Lake Albano and the remains of the Villa albana di Domiziano), naturalistic (being the area included in the perimeter of the Castelli Romani regional park) and artistic (such as the pontifical collegiate of San Tommaso da Villanova built by Gian Lorenzo Bernin.