Explore with your professional licensed guide the amazing Villa Borghese! 

It is the third-largest public park in Rome after the ones of the Villa Doria Pamphili and Villa Ada. The gardens were developed for the Villa Borghese Pinciana (“Borghese villa on the Pincian Hill”), built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese, who used it as a Suburban villa, a party villa, at the edge of Rome, and to house his art collection. Originally, the park had a traditional, geometric shape, but was turned into an English garden, imitating the natural landscape. An artificial lake with an island was also created along with broad alleys, now shadowed by secular trees. The vegetation is very diverse, including pines and magnolias. From one side of the Pincian Hill, it has an above look over Piazza del Popolo. Another entrance, near Villa Medici, has a broader view over Rome, including the Vatican, and the stairway access to Piazza di Spagna. 

The actual Villa Borghese is now a museum, hosting collections gathered by cardinal Borghese, including works by Caravaggio and Bernini, Rubens and Raphael. It is undoubtedly one of the most interesting, charming, elegant, and compact art museums in the world. It’s not chronologically arranged but is instead a very personal collection that reveals the personalities and tastes of two people: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the greatest of Baroque artists, and Scipione Cardinal Borghese, the greatest art collector and the man who actually initiated the Roman Baroque. Borghese’s collection includes works such as Raffaello’s Woman with the Unicorn, Domenichino’s Diana, Botticelli’s Madonna and Child, Caravaggio’s David, and Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, just to name a few. Behind the works are untold stories of art being stolen from churches, artists being sent to jail, workshops being devastated by Borghese’s confiscations, mysterious deaths, and other innumerable stories of intrigue and passion. 

Be ready to get some fresh air and let your guide tell you everything you need to know about Villa Borghese.

On this tour, some of the venues or parts of the venue may be subject to last-minute, unpredictable closures. When this occurs, we are happy to offer customers an extended tour in keeping with the advertised total length of the tour.

Due to increased security measures at many attractions some lines may form on tours with ‘Skip the Line’ access.

 

 

COVID-19 health and safety measures:
Face masks required for travelers in public areas
Face masks required for guides in public areas
Social distancing enforced throughout the experience
Regular temperature checks for staff
Guides required to regularly wash hands.

 

Tuesday to Sunday (Monday closed): 10:45 AM, 4:45 PM, 6:45 PM