CASTEL GANDOLFO
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Castel Gandolfo was chosen as residence for the summer holiday of the popes since Urbano VIII who, ascended the papal throne in 1623, gave the start for the construction of the villa, choosing for the building the site of the very ancient acropolis of Alba Longa. The job of construction was given to the architect Carlo Maderno who was assisted by Bartolomeo Breccioli and Domenico Castelli. The main aim of the construction of the villa was to include in the new building the ancient fortress that was constructed by the Gandulphi. The big door of the wall was accomplished from a drawing of Bernini, after it was demolished to build a new admission road to the palace. The first pontiff that lived in the palace was Alessandro VII (1655-1667), who, with the intervention of Bernini, completed the palace with the construction of the main facade and the west wing. The gallery was decorated in 1747 with paintings by Pier Leone Ghezzi that depict views of the Albani hills with scenes of rural life and in 1749 the loggia of blessings and two contiguous rooms were built. With Clemente XIV (1769-1774) there were restoration interventions of the palace and the painting decoration of some rooms close the gallery, but especially in 1773 he bought the Villa Cypo, enlarging, in this manner, the small place at popes' disposal that became rich of a wide park. In the 1870, with the end of the Papal State, the popes left all the other residences, included Castel Gandolfo, to shut up in Vatican, in open protest against the Italian State. In the 1929, with the birth of the State of the Vatican City, the papal villas of Castel Gandolfo were declared extraterritorial papal rule and with Pope Pio XI the apostolic palace of Castel Gandolfo returned to be the summer residence of the popes. The present pontifical villa, that has an expanse of about 70 hectares, is the result of the union of three different properties: to the original nucleus in fact, constituted by the apostolic palace and the annex small garden, were united, as we have said, in 1773 the Villa Cypo and in 1929, later on the Lateran Treaty, the Villa Barberini, risen on the majestic ruins of the Domiziano's Villa.
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