Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere, 14 Sep 2015
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A steam
locomotive prepares to depart from the Vatican's train station to the
pope's
summer home of Castel Gandolfo (AFP Photo/Filippo Monteforte)
|
Castel
Gandolfo (Italy) (AFP) - It was once used exclusively by popes, but the
Vatican's train line can now be ridden by all from the Holy See to the papal
summer palace.
Each
Saturday, tourists can climb aboard for an express trip to Castel Gandolfo, a
lavish estate Pope Francis has never used but wanted to share with the public
in a gesture which will also boost the Church's coffers.
From San
Pietro, to Trastevere and Ostiense, the train chugs through the Italian capital
and its green suburbs, down past the Roman ruins on the Via Appia, before
climbing through the Alban hills to the picturesque Lake Albano.
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The crew of
a steam locomotive prepare
for its departure from the Vatican's train
station
to the pope's summer home of
Castel Gandolfo (AFP Photo/Filippo
Monteforte)
|
The villa
and gardens, owned by the Holy See since 1596, expanded over the centuries to
include other properties and now sprawl over 55 hectares (135 acres).
Inside the
grounds, there are views down to the lake or glimpses of the sea beyond gardens
decorated with sculptures. There are also orchards of apricot, peach and olive
trees, and greenhouses of ornamental flowers.
The
estate's gardens first opened to the public in 2014, with tours organised for
groups and by reservation only.
But
workaholic Francis, who does not take vacations and has only been to the summer
palace twice, urged his Museum's director to go further, opening up the entire
estate and setting up a new museum.
'Closed
for centuries'
Visitors to
the villa can stand where popes down the centuries stood to bless summer Sunday
crowds -- the very window from which Benedict XVI said his last goodbyes before
retiring from the papacy.
As well as
a papal portrait gallery, visitors can pore over embellished vestments worn by
the holders of Saint Peter's Chair down the ages, including elegant papal
slippers of the type shunned by down-to-earth Francis.
For 40
euros ($45), tourists get the full package: they can skip the queue in the
morning to see the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel in Rome, before walking
through the Vatican's gardens to the train station.
Once at
Castel Gandolfo, they hop on a special white tourist train which takes them
around the papal villa, including past the pope's organic farm, which houses
cows, free-range hens, cockerels and pontifical bees.
From the
train's windows they get a glimpse at the makings of the papal menu: freshly
laid eggs, milk, vegetables, fruit, honey and fat rounds of caciotta cheese
from the farm often end up on the pope's table back in the Vatican.
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Tourists
can now take a train trip to Castel Gandolfo, a lavish estate Pope Francis
has
never used but wanted to share with the public (AFP Photo/Filippo Monteforte)
|
Visitors
can then wander around the town of Castel Gandolfo, a mediaeval borough listed
among Italy's most beautiful, before getting the train back to the Vatican in
the afternoon.
There is
also a 16 euro option for those who want to skip the Vatican Museums and just
do Castel Gandolfo.
Frugal
Francis, who has shunned the Holy See's papal apartments for life in a Vatican
hotel, has said he has no time to visit the estate -- a decision, however,
which has seen local shopkeepers hit by a drop in tourism.
The
Argentine hopes that by launching the new link with the summer palace it will
revive the struggling businesses.
"Seeing
as he's unable to spend time at Castel Gandolfo because of his numerous
engagements, Francis wanted to make a generous gesture so that we can all visit
a place which has been closed for so many centuries," Osvaldo Gianoli,
director of the Castel Gandolfo villas, told AFP.
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