CASTEL GANDOLFO. - The small town that dominates Lake Albano from the top of the volcanic crater in which the lake is gathered now has 3,500 inhabitants, predominantly farmers. It has very ancient origins, since, precisely on the spot where the Apostolic Palace stands, there rose the Arx albana, the sacred center of Alba Longa, founded according to legend by Ascanius son of Aeneas, which was in turn the cradle of Rome and then its rival.
The Arx albana, although destroyed, still preserved its sanctuaries in the imperial era, in which there is record of the Salti arcis albanae and of the vestals who guarded the fire of the Alban Vesta. This place was chosen by Domitian to establish his residence there, even during the winter. The Alban estate of the Caesars occupied an immense surface area, since it also included the lake, for an overall extent of about 14 km; it belonged to the imperial domain and was assigned by Constantine as an endowment, according to the Lib. Pont., to the basilica of St. John the Baptist, the cathedral of Albano, which he founded.
The papal villa now rises on the ruins of what was the principal nucleus of the Albanum Domitiani, and there are preserved there, besides a few fragments of columns, statues and marble friezes, part of the cryptoporticus, a grandiose hall that measured 300 m in length, with a coffered vault and painted walls, intended to shelter the emperor's walk from bad weather.
The most remote memory of the current name of C. goes back to 1218, in an instrument in which the Gandolfi (a family, it seems, of Genoese origin) appear as lords of this place. The Gandolfi, however, were very soon succeeded in the domain by the Savelli, who were dispossessed of it by Eugene IV and regained it with Nicholas V. They lost it again, as guilty of rebellion, under Alexander VI, only to regain it in 1503, and to cede it definitively, due to financial straits, to the Apostolic Camera in 1596.
Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, who frequented this town as a vacationer, having become pope (1623) under the name Urban VIII, arranged for the fortress to be enlarged and reorganized by Carlo Maderno, and inaugurated it in 1626, staying there for another eleven years, in spring and autumn. His example was followed by Alexander VII, who had the parish church of St. Thomas of Villanova built on a design by Bernini, which is adorned with a painting by Pietro da Cortona on the high altar and with another with the Annunciation by Maratta.
Clement XI (1700-21) is among the pontiffs who profited most extensively from the residence of C.; Benedict XIV (1740-58) too, in the 18 years of his papacy, made long stays there. Clement XIII (1758-69) frequented the villa in the first seven years of his pontificate, while his successor Clement XIV (1769-74) came preferably in the autumn for more than a month each year. Pius VII (1800-23), for three years before his captivity and for four after the Restoration, until 1817, loved to move to C. in the autumn, and in 1816 and 1817 also in the spring. Gregory
(Int. F. di D'Amico)
XVI, for eleven years out of the fifteen of his pontificate (1831-1846), took his vacations here. Pius IX, in his long pontificate, vacationed at C. nine times, and sporadically, for rather short periods; his last vacation was in May 1869. After 1870 the villa remained constantly closed, although it was included, according to the Law of Guarantees, among the properties that the Italian State granted for the use of the Supreme Pontiff and with the same immunities established for the other apostolic palaces. Until, with the Lateran Treaty of 1929, full ownership of it was recognized to the Holy See, with the addition of the Villa Barberini, and the Pontiff's return to his summer residence was made possible. However, only in 1934, on August 2, did Pius XI make his entry into the old Apostolic Palace.
Thus, after 65 years, the series of papal vacations at C. began again, where, however, the Pope returned no longer as sovereign but as the guest of another State, in his own house, it is true, and covered by the privilege of extraterritoriality, but "forming part of the kingdom of Italy" according to the wording of the treaty; and his stay was to be virtually confined within the boundaries of the residence. The latter was therefore enlarged with the addition of the Villa Barberini, intended to give more ample breathing room to the ancient cramped papal property, to which it has been joined by an overpass.
Some sculptures discovered during the reorganization works adorn the gardens: among them notable is an equestrian statue that perhaps represented Domitian and whose head was later replaced. Instead, in the former Barberini palace there have been placed a porphyry torso of athletic stature, a perfect copy of a work by Polyclitus, and a small, very faithful copy of the Cyniscus, another masterpiece of the same master. A copy of Myron's Marsyas has been taken to the Vatican Museum. Among the works of art preserved in the Apostolic Palace is a Deposition from the Cross, a large high relief in the Hall of the Swiss, and, in the following rooms, a canvas by Wicar representing the Ratification of the Concordat of 1807, a gift from Napoleon to Pius VII, and a Madonna by Dolci. Near the Hall of the Consistory is the chapel of Urban VIII, and, in the private apartment, the Polish chapel, decorated by Rosen and where a copy of the Madonna of Częstochowa is placed, offered to Pius XI by the episcopate of Poland.
The astronomical observatory, equipped with new instruments and a very modern astrophysics laboratory, has also been transferred to the Pontifical Palace from the Vatican.
Pius XI stayed at C. during his first vacation for more than two months, prolonging his stay more and more in the following years. Pius XII, who already in the summer of 1939 had moved to C., staying there for more than three months, has emphasized the simplicity of this residence of his, where he is accustomed to move without a retinue and with only strictly necessary personnel. This sense of austerity also harmonizes with the memory of the recent wartime events through which the papal villa passed.
In January 1943, after the landing at Anzio, the Pope, who had not returned to the villa after the first time, welcomed there the populations of C., of Albano and of the surrounding countryside who sought refuge and protection under the pressing threats of war. The refugees numbered more than 12,000 in the first weeks of February, when the aerial bombardments were unleashed even upon the pontifical residence, causing more than 500 dead and thousands of wounded. Besides for the refugees, throughout that time and in the immediate postwar period, the villa was a providential relief station for the populations situated in the rear of the battle of Anzio, who remained without assistance, without supplies, sorely tried by the bombardments and forced evacuations.
Once the battle for the capture of Rome had ceased, the work of restoring the serious damage suffered by the villa was begun as soon as possible. But only in the summer of 1946 did the Pope, who since 1939 had not left the Vatican except to rush to the aid of the districts of Rome devastated by the bombardments, return there; likewise in the two following years, staying there from the beginning of August to the end of November.
Bibliography4 works
Emilio Bonomelli