Tour to Castel Gandolfo

What is the trip about

The beautiful Roman villa built between 81 and 96 AD by Emperor Titus Flavius Domitian and dating back to the Roman age it was a huge residential complex that developed over three rooms of about 1500 square meters. Today its monumental remains, placed more within the extra-territorial Villa Barberini, make it one of the most interesting archaeological sites of the Lazio region.

In 1661 the square overlooked by the Pontifical Palace was embellished by another Bernini masterpiece: the Fountain. The drawing, inspired by the plan of S. Pietro, is similar to that of the fountain of S. Andrea della Valle in Rome.   On the east side of piazza della Libertà, the road opens up to the belvedere on Lake Albano. Always on this side rises the superb bulk of the Church of San Tommaso di Villanova, one of the most beautiful works of Bernini. It has a Greek cross plan with a thin dome resting on Doric style pillars. On the high altar the painting of the Crucifixion is by Pietro da Cortona. The facade is punctuated by pilasters, a thick frame and a triangular pediment with the arms of Pope Alexander VII at the center.

A few meters ahead, on the right of the street, is the Ninfeo Bergantino, also called Bagni di Diana for a mosaic depicting the goddess . The nymphaeum occupies the space of a large cave excavated in earlier times. Traces of paintings have been found on the walls but certainly there were also marble decorations. During the excavations of 1841 fragments of sculptures came to light. Continuing along Via dei Pescatori you will soon reach the point where the emissary of the Albano lake is located: the tunnel of almost one and a half kilometers has been opened and excavated by the Romans in blocks of tufa and begins with a monumental chamber.