Castel Gandolfo

Castel Gandolfo (also Castel Gandolfo, Latin Castrum Gandulphi ) is an Italian town in the members of the Region Lazio Province Rome. In Castel Gandolfo 8782 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012). The city is known for which located here papal residence.

Geography

Castel Gandolfo is located 24 km southeast of Rome in the Alban hills above Lake Albano. The municipality covers an altitude 155-519 m asl

The municipality is located in the seismic zone 2 (medium endangered).

Castel Gandolfo is divided into four areas.

• The old town of Castel Gandolfo is located on the edge of the caldera, an extinct volcano.
• The Lake Albano, which belongs to the municipality, is located on the crater floor, 130 m below the town. Along the shore are tourist cafes and beach resorts.
• On the western slope of the caldera in the district of Mole is with modern residential development.
• In the southwest lies to another, now drained crater lake ( Laghetto di Turno ) the district Pavona, which originated in the 1920s. Now live most of the inhabitants of the municipality in him. There is also the industrial area.

Castel Gandolfo is counted among the towns of the Castelli Romani. It was included in the list of the most beautiful villages in Italy.

The nearby towns are clockwise: Marino, Grottaferrata, Rocca di Papa, Albano Laziale and Rome.

Traffic

• Castel Gandolfo is located 14 km from the driveway Monteporzio Catone away on the feeder road to the A1 Autostrada del Sole motorway.
• Castel Gandolfo is located on the Via Appia ( state road SS 7), which connects the city with Rome.
• The Via Nettunense ( state road SS 207), which traverses the district Pavona, leads to Anzio (41 km) to the sea.

• Castel Gandolfo has a station on the regional rail line FR4 Rome Albano. The Pavona railway station on the regional railway line Rome - Velletri FR4 is already in the district of Pavona Albano Laziale.

History

Archeological excavations and historical sources suggest that by about 1100 BC to 600 BC, the ancient city of Alba Longa was on the site of the present town, which has long been the cultural center and capital of the Latinerbundes. Alba Longa played in Roman mythology with the founding of Rome a prominent role. 665 BC was destroyed Alba Longa of Rome.

With the opening of the Via Appia 312 BC, numerous villas were built in the area, including the largest, the villa of the emperor Domitian. It is the predecessor of today's Papal Palace.

In the Middle Ages Domitianvilla belonged under the name Massa Caesariana the Counts of Tusculum. In 1221 they acquired the Savelli and rebuilt it to their castle. In 1596 it was seized by the Apostolic Chamber and rebuilt in the sequel to the baroque palace. Since 1628 it is used as a summer residence of the Pope.

As 1798 Castel Gandolfo was occupied by French soldiers, it joined the short-lived Republic of Albano. 1820, the first mailbox in the world was set up in Piazza della Libertà. 1870 State of the Church was dissolved and Castel Gandolfo incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. With the Lateran Treaty of 1929, the limits of the papal residence were established as extraterritorial area of the Vatican.

Demographics

Source: ISTAT

Policy

Milvia Monachesi (PD ) was elected in May 2012 to the Mayor. Your predecessor and party colleague Maurizio Colacchi in office from 2002 to 2012. During the elections in 2002, 2007 and 2012 the Red-Green civil list Arcobaleno ever won an absolute majority of seats in the municipal council.

Twin Cities

• France Châteauneuf -du- Pape, the former summer residence of the popes in Provence
• Mauritius Curepipe in Mauritius

Pope residence

Castel Gandolfo houses a residence of the Pope. Originally built by Emperor Domitian, it was later the noble residence of the Gandolfi family and then the Savelli. The residence was seized by Pope Clement VIII in 1596 and Urban VIII in 1624 rebuilt to 1629 to the Pope 's palace. Since then, the palace of almost all the popes was used in the summer months as a residence primarily. Traditionally, then find the General Audiences held there in the courtyard of the papal palace. Pope Benedict XVI. used the residence during his pontificate throughout the year often for recreation. He is retired after his resignation on 28 February 2013 following Castel Gandolfo until he finally took his retirement home in the Mater Ecclesiae convent on May 2, 2013. Castel Gandolfo is of death of Pius XII. (1958 ) and Paul VI. (1978).

The residence is a complex of three villas. In the Lateran Treaty of 1929, the summer residence (which includes the Pope's Palace, Villa Cybo, the Palazzo Barberini, the gardens of the Belvedere, and a farm with a small agriculture) was referred to as extra-territorial possession of the Holy See ( with an extension of 55 hectares ). In contrast to widespread opinion, this does not mean that the papal goods are Vatican City, Castel Gandolfo part of the territory of the state, but that they are comparable to the status of foreign diplomatic missions. The backup tasks within the papal goods are perceived by the Vatican Gendarmerie. In the area of ​​Villa Cybo is the " International Convention Centre Mariapoli " of the Focolare Movement. At the beginning of the pontificate of John Paul II, a covered swimming pool was donated by American Catholics.

The east wing of the complex is since 1930 the Vatican Observatory Specola Vaticana, which replaced the Roman site of the observatory because of the light pollution of the city. It has two telescopes of the 1950s, but which are now obsolete. Therefore, the research division of the Institute in 1981 moved to the local university by the then director George Coyne to Arizona.

Summer residence of the Pope

Parish Church of San Tommaso da Villanova by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

The dome of the parish church