Hilltop village of CASTEL GANDOLFO private tour: the summer residence of the Popes

The guided tour of Castel Gandolfo will take you to discover a small village full of art, historic buildings and a breathtaking view of the lake. It starts from the historic center and from the Apostolic Palace where the tower that Urban VIII had built on the remains of the castle of the Gandolfi, first lords of Castel Gandolfo, is clearly visible.

The tour continues in the main square of the village with the Papal Palace which contains the extraordinary story of the life of the Popes in the last five hundred years. In fact, the Palace was used as the summer residence of the Popes who moved here from the Vatican during the summer, being a hilly area and therefore cooler and more peaceful from the chaos of Rome.

The seventeenth century building, designed in part by the famous architect Bernini, was recently transformed by Pope Francis from residence to museum, and is enriched by immense Vatican Gardens, also known as “del Moro”, built on the remains of an ancient Roman villa of Domitian of which the most valuable and elegant is the Barberini Garden. Another building dominates the beautiful main square, a magnificent example of religious architecture designed by Bernini with the fountain in front: the Pontifical Collegiate Church of San Tommaso da Villanova.

We visit the magnificent seventeenth-century church commissioned by Pope Alexander VII, admiring the finely crafted and painted dome inside. Curiosity: in the square that houses the most important buildings of Castel Gandolfo there is the first correspondence hole in the world dating back to 1820, still functioning as it is directly connected to the post office, which collects correspondence destined for the Papal State.

Our tour continues walking through the alleys of the historic center of the village where it is easy to find souvenir shops, small local craft shops and many restaurants and taverns, often built on terraces in a panoramic position on the lake, which offer excellent dishes of typical Roman cuisine. . The guided tour ends with a visit to the terraces on Lake Albano, a lake of volcanic origin surrounded by thick vegetation and overlooked by other small villages in the Castelli Romani area: a unique setting for postcard photos.

Included:

• Walking tour with licensed tour guide

Not included:

• Food and drinks
• Museum tickets (optional)
• Transfer service

What to bring:

• Comfortable shoes
• Water
• Sun hat on hot days

Meeting point:

• Piazza della Libertà, 30 square (Artigianato shop)