Vill Borghese Gardens
The Borghese family was one of Rome’s noblest, and in the case of Scipione Caffarelle Borghese, one of its most dedicated citizens, also deeply ingrained in the hierarchy of the Vatican. The gardens were the brainchild of Scipione and he undertook their development when he was a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church in 1606, simultaneous to his commissioning this villa to be built, designed by Flaminio Ponzio. The villa, once used as a party venue and gallery for its owner’s art collection, is now a gallery and museum within the gardens.
During the 19th century, the gardens were redesigned and replanted with a more naturalistic English garden sensibility; they were opened to the public in 1903.
Today the Villa Borghese Gardens are a free public park, the third largest in Rome, but certainly its most popular. It is often referred to as the “green lung” of Rome. It contains duck ponds (one of which is large enough to accommodate row boats), fountains, hedgerows and trees, flowers, sculptures, several buildings, pathways, arches, and statuary of remarkable people like Goethe, Victor Hugo and the Russian writer, Gorgol.
