Urban was so enamored of his digs at Castel Gandalfo that shortly after vacationing there for the first time in 1626, he invited his secretary of state to get out of Rome and join him with a Latin poem extolling the attractions of the place. These included a trip on horseback a few miles south to the grove of Egeria on beautiful Lake Nemi.

A spokeswoman for the town of Castel Gandolfo told CNA that Pope Leo XIV is expected to arrive sometime during the first week of July.

Pope Leo XIV will spend two weeks in Castel Gandolfo, the traditional summer residence of popes near Rome, the Vatican said on Tuesday. The new head of the Catholic Church is reviving a tradition of his predecessors after a break of almost a decade and a half.