For 400 years, most popes escaped the Roman summer in the hilltop town of Castel Gandolfo, Italy. Then Francis stopped going, leaving the town a bit bereft.

The shy 69-year-old Augustinian missionary has eschewed the headline-grabbing protagonism of past pontiffs in favor of a quieter, less showy and more reserved way of being pope.

Overlooking Lake Albano on a hill south of Rome, Castel Gandolfo was for centuries a much-loved papal summer retreat — until Pope Francis renounced both the estate and summer holidays. Now the tiny town is reclaiming its vaunted status as a Vatican outpost,