Pope Leo XIV revives the tradition of hundred holidays, bringing the hope of a tourist boom to Castel Gandolfo

Pope Leo XIV will resurrect a tradition that is over 400 years on Sunday when he leaves the city of the Vatican for a summer vacation in Castel Gandolfo. The pontiffs have sought refuge for the heat of summer in the city next to the lake to an hour south of Rome for centuries, but the late Pope Francis left the tradition during his 12 years in the Vatican.

Leo’s imminent visit has increased the hopes of a new impulse for tourism in the small town. It will be there from July 6 to July 20, according to an article published last month by the Official Communication of the Vatican.

As the first Pope to visit the town on the banks of Lake Albano, home of only about 8,900 people, in more than a decade, Leo has the mayor and business owners of Castel Gandolfo with the hope that other tourists will continue, perhaps even trying to overlap to see the Pontiff.

Pope Francis, who He died in Aprilhe rejected many of the traps and splendor that the papio can transmit, deciding to spend his summers in his humble residence of the Vatican instead of venturing to Gandolfo.

While there is there Papa Leo born in Chicago It will remain in a walled building owned by the Vatican, not in the traditional papal residence of the city, the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo.

“Pope Leo has given us a wonderful gift,” said Stefano Carosi, owner of a local cafeteria, to the Reuters news agency. “The Pope has always been important here … because he attracts people.”

The mayor of Castel Gandolfo, Alberto de Angelis, told Reuters that the locals were ecstatic by the papal visit.

“The presence of potatoes in Castel Gandolfo has always meant a lot of activity, a lot of economic growth,” he said.

Leo will probably remain out of view of the public for much of his visit, behind the walls of the papal residence, but is scheduled to make appearances on July 13 and 20, to attend religious celebrations in the city.

The potatoes are on vacation in Castel Gandolfo for years in the summer, taking advantage of its 1,400 feet altitude next to the lake to look for colder climates than in Rome, where a European heat wave in early summer has already conducted temperatures at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Leo will not remain in Papal Palace, who, together with his ornate Renaissance -style gardens, was first acquired by the Vatican in 1596 as a payment of the debt of an aristocratic family. Pope Francis turned the palace into a museum during his papacy, opening his gardens to tourists. The museum will remain open during Leo’s visit.

While Francis never stayed in Castel Gandolfo, residents say that his decision to open the palace as a public museum has benefited the community.

The owner of a mosaic study in the city of Lakeside, Marina Rossi, said that tourists now come much more frequently, instead of just coming during the summer to see the Pope.

“It was more a coup and leak tourism, because the audience was and then they would leave,” he told Reuters. “Now there is a constant tourism flow throughout the year.”

Rossi said that the return of the Catholic leader to the city would give Castel Gandolfo the opportunity to attract even more tourists.

“It’s an important moment,” he said. “I will not hide my happiness.”

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