Papal Palace at Castel Gandolfo
Walsh Global 5
Noah Drlik
Last week, I was given the opportunity to tour the Papal Palace in Castel Gandolfo. The pontifical palace was a beautiful structure full of history, but it did not really catch my attention. I was not very interested in the tour and did not pay attention as I should have. Looking back, I regret not listening very much because of it possibly being a once in a lifetime experience. The tour was split up into two sections, a tour of the museum that was full of papal portraits and memorabilia and a tour of the Papal apartment. The first section was an audio tour of the museum which mainly consisted of artifacts and portraits, it was not very interesting to me. I was able to go back in the photos I took while there to refresh my memory on some of the interesting facts. One of the interesting things about this museum was that there were displays showing off papal clothing. The museum had a pair of Roman slippers, still intact, worn by St. Pius V of the 16th century and Blessed innocent XI of the 17th century. It felt weird being close to something someone wore over 400 years ago. Another artifact I found interesting from the audio tour was about the Papal cars, now known as the “Pope Mobile’s”. The cars were not Italian cars. The cars on display were Mercedes, Land Rover, and Toyota. I was expecting the Pope located in Italy to have Italian manufactured vehicles such as Fiat or Alfa-Romeo. I knew the Pope would travel in a luxury car such as a Mercedes, but I thought that the Vatican would help boost the Italian economy by buying an Italian car. Another unique artifact that defiantly caught everyone’s attention when walking through the museum was the triumphant chair and Flabella of Pope Pius IX. This was a display in the middle of a room surrounded by manikins dressed as guards. The chair was obviously used by Pope Pius IX because you could see where he sat down. The interesting fact about the chair was that he was able to be carried while sitting in the chair. The people treated the pope like a king and pampered him to the fullest degree because the flabella was used to fan the Pope to keep him cool. The portraits of every pope had information about their life, but that really did not catch my attention. I was not very interested in the lives of every pope, so I did not listen to the portrait’s audio guide very often. I remember one point that I found interesting about Julius the 2nd and that was he was called the warrior pope. I found this ironic because as the head of the Catholic church he is supposed to show love and peace but being called the warrior pope shows he must have liked to fight. Julius the 2nd did not want foreigners in Italy, therefore he swore that he would not cut his beard until all foreigners were removed from Italy. That was all I could remember from the museum tour, as I did not pay much attention because it did not peak my interests. The second part of the tour was far more interesting as it was a tour of the Papal apartment. The tour was given by one of the guards and showed where the Pope slept, his office, his private chapel and all of the meeting rooms. I liked this part of the tour more because I got to walk where the Popes walked and talked. It gave a holy feeling that I did not receive in the museum. Overall, I wished I was more interested in the museum section of the tour and paid more attention. However, I really liked the Papal apartments tour and would go back if given the chance.
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