Borghese Gallery and Gardens Guided Walking Tour

From the Pincio, it is possible to walk to the Crooked Wall (Muro Torto), which is the boundary of Rome’s largest park, the setting for the Villa Borghese. In summer, Romans come here to enjoy the huge lawns and wander by the lakes or along the winding alleys.

The villa was created in the seventeenth century by Cardinal Scipione Borghese and enlarged several times before being acquired by the state. The collections housed inside recall the lifestyles of those patrician villas, where wealthy families could enjoy the clean air while indulging their favourite passion: amassing great collections of old masters, sculptures, and objets d’art. On the way to the nearby Villa Giulia, stop for a moment at the romantic Giardino del Lago, laid out at the end of the eighteenth century; on an island in the lake stands a reproduction of a small temple of Aesculapius. A little further on, the path leads to the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna and the fascinating Etruscan museum of the Villa Giulia, with archeological finds from Latium, Umbria and Southern Tuscany. The name of the Villa Giulia recalls its former owner, Pope Julius III (1550-1555), who entrusted its design to the architect Vignola. Surrounded by a garden which originally extended down to the banks of the Tiber, this elegant palace is typical of the Mannerist era with its theatrical nymphaeum comprising rocks, imitation grottoes, and statues.

The Villa Borghese (in fact, a small palace) is a stately and refined edifice datingfrom the eighteenth century in its present form. Its park, handsomely laid out with fountains and mock ruins, is one of the city’s largest, and its arena is the scene of international show-jumping from April to May every year.