Only an hour and forty-five minute train ride from the infamous Roma,
Viterbo is a well-preserved medieval town perfect for studying abroad.
Viterbo’s small size allows students to get by without a car, as the
city is walkable from one side to the other within fifteen minutes.
Viterbo is a city that allows its inhabitants to lead a slow and
peaceful way of life while also offering an exciting nightlife.
Students can experience a variety of traditions between the open-air
market in San Faustino and the Saturday morning market at the Sacrario
Fountain to the ancient architecture and Pausa Pronzo. It is also a
perfect city to become acquainted with Italian culture through
friendships with the Italian students at the University. Viterbo seems
to always have a smiling face available for the student studying abroad,
so far from home. (Jaclyn Percy)
The Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo, or the Apostolic Palace of Castel
Gandolfo from its Italian name Palazzo Apostolico di Castel Gandolfo, is
a 17th-century papal palace in the city of Castel Gandolfo, Italy. It
has served for centuries as a summer residence and vacation retreat for
the pope, the leader of the Catholic Church. Although situated within
Castel Gandolfo, the residence is afforded extraterritorial status as
one of the properties of the Holy See and is not under the jurisdiction
of Castel Gandolfo or Italy.
For those wanting a change of pace from Rome's bustle and crowds one
does very well by taking a train day trip out to Castel Gandolfo. Castel
Gandolfo lies on a commuter train line that runs from Rome Termini out
to a terminus station in nearby Albano. But be aware that there is a
climb up a steep path with stretches of steps to get from the Castel
Gandolfo train station up to the center of town. There is also a road
route into town from the station but it is also an uphill climb and the
path is a shortcut. Either way, one needs to be in passably reasonable
walking shape!
Castel Gandolfo offers spectacular scenery as it
is perched on the rim of the ancient crater lake of Lago Albano. That
view alone is worth the trip for me and one can enjoy it over lunch or
dinner from one of several restaurants that offer balcony seating
overlooking the lake. Castel Gandolfo is also the site of the Pope's
summer residence and it has been recently opened to the public. One can
now tour parts of the residence and roam its grounds.
For those
with any interest in Roman history the Castel Gandolfo is also the
location of a startling example of ancient engineering know-how. Back in
700 BC the lake was apparently a bit more volcanically active than it
is now and by some still poorly understood natural phenomenon the level
of the lake suddenly rose some 300 ft. to pour out over the crater rim
and inundate the farm fields lying between it and Rome. This was a
problem that the Romans and their Etruscan engineers were motivated to
fix. So they built a drainage tunnel through the wall of the volcanic
crater, a tunnel that is just over a kilometer long. This drained the
water in the lake back down to more or less where it remains today. The
ancient tunnel is still there and would still drain lake water if the
lake level ever rises back up to where the tunnel entrance remains
visible for those who know where to look. The tunnel runs below the
center of the town of Castel Gandolfo. A similar but even longer
drainage tunnel (nearly a mile long) was dug by the Etruscans even
earlier under the crater walls of neighboring Lake Nemi, presumably for a
similar reason.
Other tidbits of regional history include the
fact that the vast villa grounds of Emperor Domitian were once located
in and around Castel Gandolfo. Emperor Caligula also had a palatial
villa near neighboring lake Nemi and floated two large boats on that
lake, complete with heated floors and modern water faucets. Emperor
Septimus Severus used nearby Albano as his residence when he arrived to
restore order in Rome following the assassination of his ally and
friend, Emperor Pertinax, at the hands of the notorious Praetorian
Guard. Severus had served in the Roman army under Pertinax's father
during his earlier career. The modern town of Albano lies on top of the
Roman fort city (castrum) that Septimus Severus built for his own
personal bodyguard - his 2nd Parthian Legion, one of several that he
himself had established - who he used to disband the recalcitrant
Praetorian Guard in Rome.
In fact, the Alban Hills region was a
favorite place for villas of many wealthy and famous Romans. As another
example, the town of Albano which lies only a bit over a mile away from
castel Gandolfo (and which once in ancient times included Castel
Gandolfo as part of its extent) was the location of the villa of Pompey
the Great. It was at this favorite villa of his where Pompey and his
beloved young wife, Julia (the 17 year old daughter of his triumvirate
contemporary, Julius Caesar), once hosted Ptolemy 12 of Egypt for a stay
of four years while Ptolemy was avoiding some self-inflicted unrest
back in Egypt! And also, it is thought, Ptolemy's daughter, Cleopatra,
came with him and was twelve years old at the time she arrived. Albano
is now relatively easy to walk to since a concrete pedestrian walkway
has been created that runs alongside the narrow and heavily trafficked
road that links Albano with Castel Gandolfo. It is now a peaceful walk
along a wooded country road with hilltop views of the plains of Rome
lying below and the Tyrrhenian Sea coastline in the distance.
Having
once lived in neighboring Albano for three years as a child (in a
modern villa that is located on a part of the reputed ancient grounds of
Pompey's villa) I took a nostalgic walk into Albano along that new
pedestrian path and then caught a train from Albano back to Rome at the
end of the afternoon.
As a personal footnote, it is a thrilling
notion which makes history come alive for me that a very young Cleopatra
perhaps (likely?) once played on much the same grounds that I played on
when I was twelve years old (her age at the time). If she was a
resident at Pompey's villa for four years she must surely have
encountered Julius Caesar (perhaps frequently) as a child, years before
she later met him as a young woman by being sneaked into his presence in
Alexandria, rolled up in her legendary rug to escape the attention of
her brother who had just murdered Pompey, their father's former host in a
time of need, and then besieged Julius Caesar!
Enjoy the town of Castel Gandolfo in the height of summer during a more
intimate Papal Audience, given the Pope may spend some of his time at
the Papal Palace in Castel Gandolfo. We went for a day trip, actually an
afternoon trip, during Autumn and it was the escape to some quiet
relaxation we needed. An easy train ride from Rome, we enjoyed a relaxed
lunch with delicious authentic Italian flavours. Then strolled the
Via's and laneways seeing such old buildings and cosy trattoria's or
ristoranti to have a coffee and homestyle Tiramisu. A few hours was
enough before we took the train ride back to Rome, way more relaxed. The
quiet, fresh air by the magnificent Lake Albano was great food for the
soul.
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