Italy · 13th century
The Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo, or the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo from its Italian name Palazzo Apostolico di Castel Gandolfo, is a 135-acre (54.6-ha) complex of buildings in a garden setting in the city of Castel Gandolfo, Italy, including the principal 17th-century villa, an observatory and a farmhouse with 75 acres (30.4 ha) of farmland. The main structure, the Papal Palace, has served for centuries as a summer residence and vacation retreat for the pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, and is afforded extraterritorial status as one of the properties of the Holy See, though the main Apostolic Palace building has served as a museum since October 2016. It overlooks Lake Albano.
Text adapted from “Palace of Castel Gandolfo” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo ranks #287 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #25 of the 560 mapped in Italy. Founded c. 1250, it is older than 67% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 25,705 times in the last 60 days, more than 98% of the atlas. 65 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Rome, 21 km away. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.
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