Golf is a sport that conquers the interests of more and more people and in recent years a golf tourism movement has also been born in Italy. Golf courses in and around Rome are an increasingly popular destination and host tournaments, while enjoying natural and historical beauty. The game is Read more…
From the first week of December the streets of Castel Gandolfo come alive with a series of events on the occasion of the arrival of Christmas. It all starts with the opening of the market, wooden houses with artisans and producers housed in the square in front of the Pope’s Read more…
On 25 August in Castel Gandolfo on Lake Albano is celebration of the “Madonna del Lago”, the patron saint of the town, with a very heartfelt ceremony. It begins with a solemn mass followed by a procession that arrives from the village to the shore of the lake, here the Read more…
Most of us have all heard of the Via Francigena, the path travelled by pilgrims to visit the tomb of St. Peter’s in Rome starting from Canterbury in England, but still few know that the journey continued to Brindisi where the faithful embarked to sail to the Holy Land. This Read more…
The last Sunday of July in the historical district celebrates fishing, sipping drinks, tasting jams, cakes and fruit salads. On Sunday morning, young costumed Castellans climb from the village up to the Papal Palace to deliver baskets filled with fruit to the Holy Father as a sign of devotion. During Read more…
The galleries are illusory tree-lined streets created by Urban VIII to cheer the hard journey from Rome to the Castelli. The term derives from the treetops of the Gallery that form a tunnel (galleria). The pope loved walking on the ridge above the lake, and built two roads: the Galleria Read more…
The “Bergantino” nymphaeum, called “Diana’s Baths”, was asked for by the emperor Domitian, inspired by that of Tiberius in Sperlonga. A natural cave (perhaps a pozzolan quarry) was adapted with tanks and structured environments comprised of walls of mixed materials. The side walls were covered with huge slabs of marble Read more…
The “Doric” nymphaeum comprised a rectangular room carved into the rock covered by a barrel vault and dated from the mid-first century BC. Perhaps it was part of the Domitian Villa even though today it appears isolated. Its walls are carved with a double set of niches surmounted by a Read more…
On the crest of the volcanic crater was housed the theatre, whose shape and character can be reconstructed from the existing remains on the ground and from the stone elements of the architectural decoration.
In 1659 Pope Alexander VII instructed Bernini to build the church, to replace the old church of St. Nicholas. Bernini then also completed the landscaping with the square and the fountain. The church has a facade that sweeps upwards and ends with a dome that rests on Doric pillars. The Read more…
