Castelli Romani: Escape for Popes & Day Trippers

     The Castelli Romani are a group of towns grouped at the bottom of the Alban hills to the south-east of Rome. There are collectively 16 communes which share regional gastromic specialites (I'm referencing the infamous porchetta: spit-roasted pork!) and individual histories, ranging from offering refuge to plague-fleeing Romans, (Frascati) or harboring the luxury ships of Emperor Caligula (Nemi).

     If you would like to venture to more than one Castelli for the day, it's a good idea to rent a car in Rome as although the distances between towns are not great, they are not well-linked by train.  We were fortunate to have loads of late-summer sunshine as we snaked out of Rome on Via Tuscolana to Via Appia (ring any bells..)and then headed to Frascati -about a 30 minute trip if you don't get blocked in with fellow Romani escaping the bella città for the day.

    What will you find in Frascati; apart from an abundance of what my guidebook deemed"uninspiring" wine? Well, very pretty squares, nice vistas of greater Rome, and several impressive villas from the heydays of papal extravagance - I'm happy.

Villa Aldobrandini, overlooking Frascati and surrounding valley.

Next stop, Rocca di Pappa, alongside Harley-touting Italians who seem to make these weekend escapes quite often judging from the numbers of motorcycle enthusiasts we saw on the Castelli trail.

Arguably the most picturesque town on 'the circuit' is Nemi, with its views overlooking Lake Nemi, its yummy sausage shops (if you fancy a good piece of cured meat that is..)

...and its famous strawberries which brought the acclaim of emperors (..how they get the documentation for this is anyone's guess, but the locals are still cranking out those desserts..).

Our last, and most delicious, stop of the day was Castel Gondolfo. The town is best known for being the pope's summer residence, with a surprisingly attractive piazza directly in front (top photo): Piazza della Libertà. There is also a small, domed church tucked in the corner which just happens to be designed by local talent Bernini (also pictured). All of this splendor sits conveniently perched above Lake Albano; offering several accessible viewpoints for photo ops, sunset watching, or slightly over-priced dining. Here we receive a salute from the pope's Swiss guards (think they get overtime for making the trek up here?).

After a few lakeside snapshots, we trekked past the pope's palazzo and made our way to Antico Ristorante Pagnanelli, which, with its astounding wine celler, creative dishes, and terrace views deserves a post all its own..suffice it to say, if it's good enough for Catherine Zeta-Johns (who appears on a rolling screen-saver with the owners at the entrance), it's good enough for me.