1596 — the fief lost for a debt.
One hundred and fifty thousand scudi. A papal bull dated 30 June 1596. A fief that changes hands after three and a half centuries. The ruling that took Castel Gandolfo from the Savelli family and gave it to the Holy See forever.
The Savelli and Castel Gandolfo, three and a half centuries
The link between the Savelli family and Castel Gandolfo begins in the thirteenth century. In 1279 the fief passed into the hands of Cardinal Giacomo Savelli, papal prefect, who in 1285 would be elected pontiff as Honorius IV ([Eurocomunicazione — The papal apartment](https://www.eurocomunicazione.com/2016/10/22/lappartamento-pontificio-a-castel-ganfolfo-si-svela-al-mondo/)). After a few interruptions — in 1482 Sixtus IV briefly took it from them to assign it to the community of Velletri, and four years later the Savelli returned to possess it — the fief came back to the Roman family and remained theirs for centuries ([Wikipedia — Castel Gandolfo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castel_Gandolfo)).
The high point came under Sixtus V. With a motu proprio dated 26 February 1589, the pontiff elevated the fief to a duchy in favour of Bernardino Savelli of the Palombara branch ([Petrucci — The Savelli in the Alban Hills, PDF](https://www.palazzochigiariccia.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/38.-Petrucci-I-Savelli-nei-Colli-Albani-in-Gli-Orsini-e-I-Savelli-2017.pdf)). The ducal title now flew over the castle. It was the last flash before the collapse.
Old Roman families, almost reduced to political impotence
Sixteenth-century Rome had been harsh on the baronial aristocracy. A classic study of the debt problem in Rome in the 16th century notes that the great houses — Colonna, Orsini, Savelli, Gaetani — were «almost reduced to political impotence» by the accumulation of rents and loans ([Delumeau — Le problème des dettes à Rome au XVIe siècle](https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhmc_0048-8003_1957_num_4_1_2626)). The Savelli were no exception. Feudal incomes could no longer cover the interest owed; creditors demanded ever stronger guarantees.
Eleven years after the elevation to a duchy, the situation was compromised. The accumulated debts amounted, according to the Apostolic Chamber itself, to 150,000 scudi ([Vatican State — Castel Gandolfo](https://www.vaticanstate.va/en/other-bodies/castel-gandolfo.html)). An enormous sum for the age. The reigning pontiff was Clement VIII, born Ippolito Aldobrandini, elected in 1592.
30 June 1596: the Congregation of the Barons
The ruling is dated 30 June 1596. Clement VIII promulgated the bull known as the Congregation of the Barons, a measure designed to regulate the debts of the great feudal houses and to protect their creditors. On the basis of that bull, the Commissioner of the Reverend Apostolic Chamber took possession the following month — in July 1596 — of the fiefs of Castel Gandolfo and Rocca Priora, removing them from the Savelli family, who had refused to honour the debt ([Vatican State — Castel Gandolfo](https://www.vaticanstate.va/en/other-bodies/castel-gandolfo.html), [EWTN — Castel Gandolfo and the Popes](https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/castel-gandolfo-and-the-popes-1585)).
The Apostolic Chamber immediately paid 24,000 scudi to the most pressing creditors and took on the rest ([Wikipedia — Storia di Castel Gandolfo](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storia_di_Castel_Gandolfo), [Cancellieri — Notes on Castel Gandolfo, Archive.org](https://archive.org/stream/letteradifrances00canc/letteradifrances00canc_djvu.txt)). The resistance of the old lords was in vain: a papal bull admitted no appeal. In the following months part of the debt was later repaid to the Chamber by the Savelli, and Rocca Priora was returned to the family. Castel Gandolfo was not.
“Removing them from the Savelli family, who had refused to pay a debt of 150,000 ecus.”Vatican State — historical note on the acquisition of Castel Gandolfo
27 May 1604: the definitive ruling
Eight years later, Clement VIII closed the matter with a legal act that would bind the village to the Holy See for all the following centuries. On 27 May 1604, by consistorial decree, Castel Gandolfo was declared an inalienable patrimony of the Holy See and permanently incorporated into the temporal domain of the Church ([Vatican State — Castel Gandolfo](https://www.vaticanstate.va/en/other-bodies/castel-gandolfo.html)). The list of goods de non alienandis, et infeudandis — those which could never again be sold nor granted as fiefs — grew by one name ([Wikipedia — Storia dei Castelli Romani](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storia_dei_Castelli_Romani)).
From that date Castel Gandolfo ceased to be a baronial fief and became a stable property of the Holy See. It would never again be sold. It would never again be granted to any family. It would take another two decades before a pontiff — Urban VIII Barberini, from 1624 to 1626, on a design by Carlo Maderno — would transform the old Savelli castle into a papal palace ([Vatican News — Castel Gandolfo, history and art](https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-07/summer-papal-residence-castel-gandolfo-history-art.html)).
What was left to the Savelli
Not everything was over. In 1607 Bernardino Savelli signed with the inhabitants of Albano the town's first Statute. In 1650 the family would even obtain the princely title over Albano ([Wikipedia — Savelli family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savelli_family)). But the slow financial agony did not stop: in 1697 Prince Giulio Savelli, to face the last debts, was forced to sell the Albano fief too ([Wikipedia IT — Giulio Savelli](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Savelli,_III_principe_di_Albano)). The story of one of the oldest baronial families of Rome ended on the threshold of the eighteenth century.
At Castel Gandolfo, meanwhile, the old Savelli castle had already become another place: the Apostolic Palace. For four centuries the summer residence of the popes. All because of a signature on 30 June 1596 and a debt that was never paid.