Villa Borghese is a landscape

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, containing a number of buildings, museums (see

Galleria Borghese The Galleria Borghese () is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate touris ...

) and attractions. It is the third largest public park in Rome (80 hectares or 197.7 acres) 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 The Pincian Hill (; it, Pincio ; la, Mons Pincius) is a hill in the northeast quadrant of the historical centre of Rome. The hill lies to the north of the Quirinal, overlooking the Campus Martius. It was outside the original boundaries of th ...

"), built by the architect

Flaminio Ponzio Flaminio Ponzio (1560–1613) was an Italian architect during the late-Renaissance or so-called Mannerist period, serving in Rome as the architect for Pope Paul V. Ponzio was born in Viggiù near Varese, and he died in Rome. After juvenile trai ...

, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese, who used it as a ''villa suburbana'', or party villa, at the edge of Rome, and to house his art collection. The gardens as they are now were remade in the late 18th century.

History

In 1605, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V and patron of

Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...

, 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 Gardens of Lucullus ( lat, Horti Lucullani) were the setting for an ancient villa on the Pincian Hill on the edge of Rome; they were laid out by Lucius Licinius Lucullus about 60 BC. The Villa Borghese gardens still cover of green on the sit ...

, 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 (''illustration, right''). 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 The Spanish Steps ( it, Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) in Rome, Italy, climb a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top. The monumental stairw ...

lead up to this park, and there is another entrance at the Porte del Popolo by Piazza del Popolo. The ''Pincio'' (the

of ancient Rome), in the south part of the park, offers one of the greatest views over Rome. The Piazza di Siena, located in the villa, hosted the

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

dressage, individual jumping, and the jumping part of the eventing competition for the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

. 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 Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

, in 1896. In 2004, a species of Italian snail was discovered, still living on the balustrade after more than 100 years in England.

Villas in the gardens

*Today the

is housed in the Villa Borghese itself. The garden Casino Borghese, built on a rise above the Villa by the architect Giovanni Vasanzio, was set up by Camillo Borghese to contain sculptures by

from the Borghese collection, including his ''David'' and his ''Daphne'', and paintings by Titian,

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...

and Caravaggio *The Villa Giulia adjoining the Villa Borghese gardens was built in 1551 - 1555 as a summer residence for

Pope Julius III Pope Julius III ( la, Iulius PP. III; it, Giulio III; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 February 1550 to his death in March 155 ...

; now it contains the Etruscan Museum (''Museo Etrusco''). *The Villa Medici houses the French Academy in Rome, and the ''Fortezzuola'' a Gothic garden structure that houses a collection memorializing the academic modern sculptor Pietro Canonica. In the 1650s, Diego Velázquez painted several depictions of this Villa's garden casino festively illuminated at night. Before electricity, such torchlit illuminations carried an excitement hard to conceive today. *Other villas scattered through the Villa Borghese gardens are remains of a world exposition in Rome in 1911. **The ''

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna The ("national gallery of modern and contemporary art"), also known as La Galleria Nazionale, is an art gallery in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1883 on the initiative of the then Minister Guido Baccelli and is dedicated to modern and contempora ...

'' located in its grounds has a collection of 19th- and 20th-century paintings emphasizing Italian artists. **Architecturally the most notable of the 1911 exposition pavilions is the English pavilion designed by Sir

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memor ...

(who later designed

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

), now housing the

British School at Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is an interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture. History The British School at Rome (BSR) was established in 1901 and granted a UK Royal Charter in 1912. Its mission is " ...

In popular culture

*The villa's gardens feature in one of

Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. His compositions range over operas, ballets, orchestral su ...

's tone poem '' Pines of Rome'' *The gardens are described in, and the setting for, chapters 8-11 of

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

's novel The Marble Faun

Other points of interest

*The garden contains a replica of the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre built in 2003. *Beside the 1911 Exposition's villas, there is the Exposition's Zoo, recently redesigned, with minimal caging, as the Bioparco, and the Zoological Museum (''Museo di Zoologia''). *In 1873 a

hydrochronometer A hydrochronometer is a kind of water clock. In 1867 Fr. Giovan Battista Embriaco, O.P., inventor and professor of the College of St. Thomas in Rome, created a hydrochronometer and sent it to the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867, where i ...

on the 1867 design of Gian Battista Embriaco, O.P. inventor and professor of the Roman College of St. Thomas was built in the gardens in emulation of the one at the College of St. Thomas. Another version stands in the gardens of the

. Embriaco had presented two prototypes of his invention at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867 where it won prizes and great acclaim.https://www.comune.roma.it/PCR/resources/cms/documents/storia-idrocronometro.pdf Accessed 20 March 2013; "Storia del Progetto"

Gallery

Image:VillaBorgheseWaterClock.jpg, Water clock in Villa Borghese Image:Balvb.jpg,

Tethered helium balloon A tethered, moored or captive balloon is a balloon that is restrained by one or more tethers attached to the ground and so it cannot float freely. The base of the tether is wound around the drum of a winch, which may be fixed or mounted on a vehic ...

Image:Alpinetroops(1).jpg,

Alpini The Alpini are the Italian Army's specialist mountain infantry. Part of the army's infantry corps, the speciality distinguished itself in combat during World War I and World War II. Currently the active Alpini units are organized in two operat ...

monument Image:Artemvb.jpg, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna File:Villa Borghese - monumento Ahmed Shawky 01215.JPG, Ahmed Shawqi monument Image:TeatroaVilla Borghese2.JPG, The Silvano Toti Globe Theatre

Notes

External links

1960 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 1. p. 81.
1960 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 2, Part 2. p. 899.

*
* {{Monuments of Rome

Borghese The House of Borghese is a princely family of Italian noble and papal background, originating as the Borghese or Borghesi in Siena, where they came to prominence in the 13th century and held offices under the ''commune''. During the 16th century, ...

Gardens in Rome Borghese, Galleria Art gallery districts Venues of the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrian venues Tourist attractions in Rome Villa Borghese Rome R. IV Campo Marzio Rome R. XVI Ludovisi Rome Q. I Flaminio