Castel Gandolfo, Italy
Reuters

Pope Leo will revive a centuries-old tradition on Sunday by taking a holiday at Castel Gandolfo, where residents of the lakeside town hope for a tourism boost after the late Pope Francis shunned taking a summer break.

Leo, elected Pope on 8th May after the death of Francis, will spend 6th to 20th July an hour’s drive south of Rome in the sleepy hill town of about 8,900 residents on the shores of Lake Albano.


A general view of the town of Castel Gandolfo overlooking Lake Albano, near Rome, where Pope Leo will spend two weeks of vacation in July, Italy, on 1st July, 2025. PICTURE: Reuters/Remo Casilli

The town’s mayor and business owners hope his stay – the first by a pope in 12 years – will attract tourists hoping to see the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican has owned a papal palace in the town, including vast Renaissance-style gardens, since 1596, but Francis, who shunned much of the pomp and privilege of the papacy, chose not to take vacations, spending the summer in his Vatican residence.

“Pope Leo has given us a wonderful gift,” Stefano Carosi, the owner of a coffee shop on the town’s main square, said. “The pope has always been important here…because he attracts people.”

Mayor Alberto De Angelis said residents were excited about the visit. “The presence of the popes in Castel Gandolfo has always meant a lot of activity, a lot of economic growth,” he said.

While Leo is expected to spend most of his vacation out of the public eye, staying in a Vatican-owned building behind a gated wall, residents and tourists will have the opportunity to see him at religious celebrations on 13th and 20th July.

POPE SPEAKS ABOUT CHILDHOOD AND EARLY MORNINGS AS AN ALTAR BOY IN UNSCRIPTED VISIT WITH CAMPERS

Pope Leo XIV spoke publicly about his childhood in Chicago for the first time as pontiff Thursday, recalling that from the age of six he used to get up early to serve as an altar boy at the 6:30am Mass before going to school.

Leo shared the memories during an unscripted visit with the children of Vatican employees who are attending the Holy See’s summer camp. They were joined by other children, including Ukrainian young people, who are attending summer programs run by Italy’s Caritas charity.

The visit, which was not announced in advance, took place in the Vatican’s main audience hall, which was decked out with huge inflatable bouncy castles for the estimated 600 kids.

One of the young campers, Giulia, asked Leo if he used to go to Mass as a child. The former Robert Prevost, who grew up the youngest of three brothers in the south Chicago suburb of Dolton, said the family always went to Mass on Sundays.

“But starting from when I was around six-years-old, I was also an altar boy in the parish. And so before going to school – it was a parochial school – there was Mass at 6:30am,” he said, emphasising how early it was. “And Mom would wake us up and say ‘We’re going to Mass!’ Because serving Mass was something we liked because starting from when I was young, they taught us that Jesus was always close to us.”

Leo, who was born in 1955, recalled that at the time, Mass was celebrated in Latin. He said he had to learn it to serve Mass even before he made his First Communion, one of the key sacraments in the church.

“It wasn’t so much the language that it was celebrated in but the experience of getting to know other kids who served the Mass together, the friendship, and this closeness with Jesus in the church,” he said.

Leo’s brother, John Prevost, has said his little brother knew from a very young age that he wanted to be a priest. Young Robert used to pretend to celebrate Mass using their mother’s ironing board as an altar and Necco candies – a once-popular sweet – as Communion wafers.

History’s first American Pope spoke in Italian, but he switched to English to address a group of Ukrainian children, some of whom held up Ukrainian flags and snagged Leo autographs. He spoke about the benefits of meeting people from different backgrounds, languages and lands.

It was one of the first times Leo has spoken unscripted at length in public, responding to questions posed to him by the children. He has tended to stick to his prepared texts for his audiences so far in his young pontificate.

– NICOLE WINFIELD, Rome, Italy/AP

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Dozens of popes have spent the summer months at Castel Gandolfo, where it is cooler than in Rome, which has been sweltering in an early summer heatwave with temperatures reaching more than 37 degrees Celsius.

Francis left “long lasting” museum legacy
Francis had Castel Gandolfo’s papal palace turned into a museum and opened the gardens to visitors.

Leo will not stay at the palace and the museum will remain open to the public, instead staying at another Vatican property.

Although Francis never spent the night in Castel Gandolfo, residents said his decision to open the museum has had long-lasting benefits.


People walk in front of the San Tommaso Da Villanova church, in the central square of the town of Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, Italy, on 1st July, 2025. PICTURE: Reuters/Remo Casilli

Marina Rossi, owner of a mosaic studio in the town, said tourists used to come only in the summer to see the Pope at one of his audiences, but now they came more frequently.

“It was more of a hit-and-run tourism, because there was the audience and then they would leave,” she said. “Now there is a steady flow of tourism throughout the whole year.”

Now, with Leo coming back, said Rossi, it gave the town the chance to attract even more tourists. “It’s an important moment,” she said. “I won’t hide my happiness.”

As for what Leo might do during his vacation, Maurizio Carosi, brother of Stefano, had a suggestion, saying he’d tell the Pope: “If you want a good glass of wine, come visit with me!”

– With CLAUDIA CHIEPPA