A labyrinth adorns the garden of one of the most beautiful palaces in the Castelli Romani: this is the labyrinth of Villa Barberini, located in Castel Gandolfo, among the Alban Hills. Villa Barberini is among the most interesting pontifical villas in Castel Gandolfo, the papal residences that dot Lake Albano and are included in the extraterritorial areas in Italy of the Holy See, to which they were granted in 1929 under the Lateran Pacts.

Villa Barberini stands where Emperor Domitian’s villa once stood: in 1631 Taddeo Barberini, nephew of Maffeo Barberini (who ascended to the papal throne in 1623 with the name Urban VIII), purchased a residence that had belonged to Monsignor Scipione Visconti and had incorporated the little that remained of the ancient imperial villa. Taddeo Barberini ordered the rearrangement of the villa, and by 1635 the building could finally be said to be completed.