Villa Borghese Gardens

Rome, Italy

Villa Borghese is a landscape garden in the naturalistic English manner in Rome, containing a number of buildings, museums and attractions. The gardens were developed for the Villa Borghese Pinciana, built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese, who used it as a party villa and to house his art collection. The gardens as they are now were remade in the early 19th century.

In 1605, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V and patron of Bernini, began turning this former vineyard into the most extensive gardens built in Rome since Antiquity. The vineyard's site is identified with the gardens of Lucullus, the most famous in the late Roman republic. In the 19th century much of the garden's former formality was remade as a landscape garden in the English taste. The Villa Borghese gardens were long informally open, but were bought by the commune of Rome and given to the public in 1903. The large landscape park in the English taste contains several villas. The Spanish Steps lead up to this park, and there is another entrance at the Piazza del Popolo. The Pincio in the south part of the park, offers one of the greatest views over Rome.

A balustrade (dating from the early seventeenth century) from the gardens, was taken to England in the late 19th century, and installed in the grounds of Cliveden House, a mansion in Buckinghamshire, in 1896. The Piazza di Siena, located in the villa, hosted the equestrian dressage, individual jumping, and the jumping part of the eventing competition for the 1960 Summer Olympics.

Today the Galleria Borghese is housed in the Villa Borghese itself. It contains an art gallery of paintings for example by Titian, Raphael and Caravaggio. The Villa Giulia adjoining the Villa Borghese gardens was built in 1551 - 1555 as a summer residence for Pope Julius III; now it contains the Etruscan Museum.

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Address

Viale dei Due Mascheroni, Rome, Italy
See all sites in Rome

Details

Founded: 1605
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More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Colosseum (2,8 km)
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St. Peter's Basilica (3,3 km)
Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli (2,4 km)
Altare della Patria (2,4 km)
St. Peter's Square (3,1 km)
Pantheon (2,2 km)
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Villa d'Este (25,9 km)

User Reviews

Bogdan Criveanu (50 days ago)
One of the must-see in Rome
Jonno Cutts (51 days ago)
Nice escape in the city, we scooted around on the electric scooters for a great time and a good laugh
Shelby Elkins (56 days ago)
I love Villa Borghese park! It has amazing views of Rome, is huge, and completely free! Take a walk, ride/rent a bike, have a picnic - you can do anything here! They even have food trucks, small restaurants, small carnival rides for children, fountains, etc. You can fill your bottle up for free from the water spouts, look out over rome, and even leave by walking down the Spanish Steps. Highly recommend!
Praveen V P (3 months ago)
Beautiful park in the heart of Rome. It has a vast area of greenery. So large with many beautiful trees, musicians playing romantic music and a beautiful lake. There are also activities for kids. Highly recommend for a romantic walk.
Hugo Lessing (3 months ago)
This park must be one of the best on the planet. Sadly, due to the people I was with I had to go to the modern art museum which wasn't personally for me. But the lakes/ponds here are very pleasant and have turtles in them. Also the structures and gardens are great.
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