Castel Gandolfo
THE POPES AND CASTEL GANDOLFO
In the summer of 1623, Cardinal Maffeo Barberini was elected to the See of Peter taking the name of Urban VIII (1623-1644). Already prior to his election this cardinal had favoured Castel Gandolfo as a summer residence, chosing it for its stunning position and panorama, but also because he believed this was the healthiest place in the area south-east of Rome, known as the “Castelli Romani”. He built there a modest home close to the castle walls on the top floor of the tower which stands to this day next to the Roman gate. His stables still stand today next to the tower but outside the town walls.
It was only natural then that when he became pope, Urban VIII should choose Castel Gandolfo as a summer residence, adapting the old strong-hold of the Gandolfi-Savelli families, as his biographer Andrea Nicoletti writes, “ to ensure that popes should have the convenience of spending the summer in their own palaces, rather than having to stay in other people’s homes”. And so it was that after spending two summers at Frascati, as a guest of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, Pope Urban VIII finally set a date for his first summer in Castel Gandolfo as pope.
After 1626 , Urban VIII returned faithfully twice a year for another eleven years to the Villa … mostly in April, or May and a second time in October for a period of two or three weeks at a time. His day had a regular routine to it and included lighter moments which he spent in the company of literary figures and erudite scholars. Above all he enjoyed going for walks which he alternated with long horseback rides in the woods. During his stay there, in order to ensure affairs of state were not neglected, he continued to receive ministers and ambassadors in audience. However after falling seriously ill in 1637, he decided he would no longer return to the villa of which he was so fond, convinced he would be better off in the heavier Roman air.
Urban VIII’s successor, Pope Innocent X Pamphilj (1644-1655), never set foot in Castel Gandolfo. In fact during his ten year pontificate he rarely left Rome.
On the other hand, Pope Alexander VII Chigi (1655-1667) used to stay in Castel Gandolfo at least twice a year , in spring and autumn, from twenty days to a month. Pope Alexander was especially sensitive to the beauty of the lake and to the surrounding woodland, which he felt conducive to meditation and silence. He enjoyed going for long walks under the chestnut and ilex trees which lined the paths there, and he also enjoyed sailing on the lake on a brig which he had transported for this purpose from Rome’s port of “Ripa Grande”. He also found the time to commission the architect “Sernini” with building of the parish church there. He dedicated the church to Saint Thomas of Villanova, the Archbishop of Valencia, whom he canonized in 1658.
For 44 years after the death of Pope Alexander, none of his successors left Rome for the summer residence, with the exception of Pope Innocent XII Pignatelli (1691-1700), who spent the night of 27 April 1697 there while travelling to Anzio and Nettuno. It turned out to be a foggy and rainy evening and the place seemed so wet and damp that he was put off by it and never returned.
Pope Clement XI Albani (1700-1721) may have spent the first nine years of his pontificate without ever leaving Rome, but in May 1710, after a serious illness, his doctors advised him to go to Castel Gandolfo for a period of convalescence. There he recovered and changed his habits. Feeling the place was good for his health, he returned there annually for six years until 1715.
It was Pope Clement who conferred on Castel Gandolfo the title of “Villa Pontificia” or Pontifical Villa at the time of his first visit there. This official papal recognition would last as long as the Papal States survived, allowing the citizens of Castel Gandolfo the privilege of coming under the special administrative and judiciary jurisdiction of the Prefect of the Apostolic Palace rather than under the local equivalent. The Pope in fact was particularly attentive to the people there and his visits were characterized by the friendly rapport he established with them, particularly with the poorest among them to whom he imparted numerous privileges.
It is also during the pontificate of Clement XI that Castel Gandolfo was restored after a long period of neglect. This work included the embellishment of the town itself which had grown significantly over the years. A plaque placed on the wall at the beginning of its main street today testifies to the many projects undertaken by this Pope for the benefit of the townspeople.
Following this pontificate the “Villa Pontificia” was abandoned by the popes for 25 years until June1741, when Pope Benedict XIV Lambertini (1740-1758) went there a year after his election to the papacy the previous summer. He was to become one of the pontiffs to be most fond of Castel Gandolfo, which he liked to describe as a place where he could extrapolate his soul from the grind stone. His visits there had an aura of great simplicity, far removed from the pomp and circumstance of his predecessors, and when he received insistent requests from his assistants to receive visitors in audience he used to reply, “I don’t want to be bothered here, we can put up with all these people when we return to Rome.”
During his pontificate he both restored and embellished the palace. Among the most significant works were the decoration entrusted to artist Pier Leone Grezzi of the “Gallery Alexander VII”, with its airy paintings depicting panoramic views of the Alban hills, peppered with enticing rustic scenes, and also the new “Loggia delle Benedizioni”, with the beautiful clock above it which he had built in 1749.