The POPE Encyclopedia
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RESIDENCES OF THE POPES
While the popes today make their official home in the Vatican, throughout most of papal history they resided at the Lateran Palace, which became their home in the early fourth century. During the Middle Ages, they spent many years away from Rome owing to squabbles with the Romans, the dangers posed by ever-scheming noble families of Rome, or the frequent seizure of the city by Holy Roman emperors as part of some struggle with the papacy. The longest period during which the Vicars of Christ lived outside of the Eternal City was from 1309 to 1377, when they were ensconced in Avignon. Other cities that served as a residence, perhaps for a few years, to wandering popes included Anagni, Orvieto, and Viterbo (which had its own papal palace). From the time that Gregory XI (1370-1378) finally went back to Rome, the popes have resided at the Vatican, with a few notable exceptions. Clement VII (1523-1534) first fled Rome following the sack of the city by imperial troops in 1527 and lived for a time in Orvieto. Pius VI (1774-1799) and Pius VII (l800-1823) were both arrested, in 1798 and 1809 respectively, by the French and deported. Pius VI lived in Florence, Briancon, and Valence, dying in exile, and Pius VII was incarcerated in Savona and Fontainebleau, and hid in Genoa briefly in 1815 when Napoleon returned from Elba to launch his 100 days campaign. Pius IX (1846-1878) had to flee a revolution in Rome in 1848, escaping to Gaeta, near Rome, dressed as a simple priest. In Rome, popes have lived in the Lateran Palace and the Vatican Palace, but they also have resided in Castel Sant' Angelo (when things became rather politically uncomfortable), theQuirinal Palace (which had better air in the summer and which was taken by King Victor Emmanuel II in 1870, proimpting Pius IX to declare that buckets of holy water could not wash clean such a desecration), anol Castel Gandolfo (allowing the popes to escape Rome's oppressive heat) in the cool Alban Hills, just outside the city. (See also Avignon; Castel Gandolfo; Castel Sant'Angelo; and Lateran Palace.)
THE POPE ENCYCLOPEDIA - Matthew Bunson Published by Crown Trade Paperbacks 201 East 50th Street, New York New York 10022, USA ISBN 0-517-88256-6
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