Hi! Today We’re having a walking tour in Rome’s Villa Borghese, which is the Central Park of Rome. Here We will find also the world-famous Borghese Gallery.
I’m taking you with me to explore the most beautiful park in Rome. Every day thousands of Romans come here for jogging, to enjoy gelato or for a walking tour.
This excursion will take us to an area of gentle hills that was partially taken over in the Renaissance by the villas of the great Roman families.
The size of Villa Borghese is (4 miles/6 km around). It was the property of the princely Borghese family.
I have so many questions like Does the Borghese family still exist?
How do they acquire all their power?
How come this park it’s not private anymore?
And also Did you know that family today produces Beauty products?
Villa Borghese (also called Villa Pinciana) is an English-style public park in Rome full of monuments, gardens, statues, and exciting views whose construction began in 1606 by the will of Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V.
The cardinal desired to build a villa that reflected the immense prestige of the family and, at the same time, that housed his art collection. Thus, the Villa is nicknamed the “museum park” (“Parco dei Musei”). Among these, the “Galleria Borghese” is one of the most famous in the world.
During this Walking Tour in Rome’s Central Park We will learn a lot about this important family.
🗡 Borghese is a princely family of Italian noble and papal background, originating in Siena. They came to prominence in the 13th century holding offices under the commune.
before the walking tour in rome: The medieval Commune
During this walking tour in Rome I want shortly to talk about the Commune. They were characterized by the oath binding the citizens of a town to mutual protection and assistance. The body became an association, capable of owning property and exercising governmental powers. The absence of powerful centralizing political authority, enabled the commune to acquire a degree of self-government. The towns conquered the countryside. Their superiors, the Holy Roman emperor or the Pope, were rarely able to exercise de facto supremacy. The stronger of these city-republics survived—at the expense of their weaker neighbors—into the Renaissance. However, by this time, most had fallen to a single ruler (signor). Milan and Florence continued as powerful states into the early modern period and Venice right up to the Napoleonic era.
Marcantonio, the head of the family, moved to Rome in the 16th century. Following the election (1605) of his son Camillo as Pope Paul V, they rose in power and wealth.
What was here before the borghese
In 1605 the estate, already owned by the Borghese family, initially occupied only the ancient site of the Horti di Lucullo (Colle del Pincio). Then, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, acquiring adjacent vineyards and land, began to transform it into the largest park in Rome to make it the symbol of the grandeur and prestige of the Borghese family.
The Villa was to exceed in wealth and splendor all the other noble residences of Rome. But, at that time, the extensive gardens were only open to guests.
The architect Flaminio Ponzio was commissioned to build the Casino Nobile (today’s Galleria Borghese) and continued, at his death, by the Dutch Jan van Santen who, extended the areas of the gardens with the creation of a large hunting sector.
With the intervention of Pietro and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Cardinal Scipione, passionate about artworks, dedicated himself to the Villa enriching it with his collections of paintings by the most famous artists while taking care of the precious furnishings and maintenance of the “secret gardens” that were on the sides of the Villa itself.
The Casino was completed with splendid decorations and sculptures and surrounded by other tiny houses, fountains, and a refined park. The estate covered an area of eighty hectares.
🎭 Goethe in Rome
On 23 June 1904, in the presence of King Victor Emanuel III, the monument dedicated to the great author and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was inaugurated. Made in Berlin in the studio of the Italian sculptor Valentino Casali, it was donated by the German Emperor Wilhelm II to the Mayor of Rome, Prospero Colonna, as a sign of the friendship between the Italians and Germans and in remembrance of the hospitality the city showed towards the poet. The 3 metre tall statue is flanked by 3 groups of sculptures showing the main fields in which Goethe worked: drama, lyrical and philosophy. Goethe is shown as a young man at the time of arrival in Rome in 1786, with a notebook in his hand to recall the works written at Villa Borghese itself.
When Johann Wolfgang Goethe arrived in Rome in 1786, he was already a world-famous writer, thanks to his “Werther,” but not yet that undisputed genius.
Goethe’s “Italian Journey,” which took him to Rome for two years, was not only a stay of pleasure, but rather a rebirth: “In Rome I first found myself. For the first time, I achieved inner harmony; I was happy and reasonable…”
He resided in Via del Corso and you can watch that walk on this channel
Goethe not only loved the eternal city – “There is only one Rome in the world. Here I feel like a fish in the water […]” – but also the trips out-of-town that led him into the green Roman countryside – “[…] on the hills of Albano, Castello and Frascati, where I spent three days last week, the air is always limpid and pure. There is a nature for you which is worth studying!”
🍿 Casino del Cinema aka the house of the cinema
About 150 years ago, this building housed cows and horses.
In the thirties it became a luxury restaurant.
It then changed its name once again and was famous, in the years of the Dolce Vita, as the “La Lucciola” dance hall.
Since 2000 the building was restored and used as a bar, restaurant and cinema.
The Villa, between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
After the death of Scipione Borghese, the Villa continued to be taken care of and did not undergo partial changes until 1770. Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese gave impetus to a radical renewal of the park.
Conversion works mainly concerned the main buildings such as the Casino Nobile, the Casino dei Giochi Giochi (now “Aranciera”), and the expansion of the large adjacent park with the remaking of the neoclassical decorations. In addition, the stuccos inside the buildings were renewed, and marble, frescoes, and alabaster statues were added.
The Prince, assisted by the architects Antonio and Mario Asprucci and the collaboration of master gardeners and artists, promoted the placement of precious statues along the park
Decorations and friezes gave more excellent luster to the gardens enriched by enchanting fountains and ponds.
The park was open for summer walks and leisures offered to the people by the Prince.
Upon the death of Marcantonio IV, his son Camillo Borghese, married to Paolina Bonaparte (Napoleon’s sister), made a substantial contribution to the magnificence of the Villa with grandiose shows and famous festivals, such as the ride in the air balloon in Piazza di Siena, songs and dances. Thus, we can find much evidence in paintings and engravings of that time.
At the end of the nineteenth century, due to the exorbitant expenses for the reconstruction works incurred by Prince Camillo Borghese, public admission was accepted underpayment for the first time.
🏦 walking tour in rome: Casino Borghese aka Galleria Borghese
Dominating the piazza is the exquisite, ornate early-17th-century Casino Borghese, by the northern Italian architect Flaminio Ponzio and his colleague Jan van Santen, known in Rome as Giovanni Vasanzio. The Casino has consistently held one of the prime collections of paintings and sculptures in the world – including many of Bernini’s most significant pieces. In the early 19th century, it was the favorite residence of Prince Camillo Borghese and his wife Paolina, Napoleon’s sister, whose beauty and extravagance were legendary. The Emperor once forced his brother-in-law to sell part of his collection to the Louvre, but the Prince quickly replaced it. The collection includes Canova’s famous and glorious statue of the semi-nude Paolina.
You should come here for a Walking Tour in Rome.
The ground floor is devoted to ancient and modern sculpture, including works by Bernini and Canova (among the latter, the famous semi-nude, life-size portrait of Napoleon’s scandalous sister Paolina, who married into the Borghese family. Paintings on the upper floor include notable works by Italian artists of the Renaissance (Raphael, Correggio, Titian, and Antonello da Messina) and the 17th century (Caravaggio, Guercino, and Domenichino).
Borghese Beauty Products
Today the Borghese brand is selling beauty products the company is known as simply Borghese and is based in New York City.
❓ Does the Borghese family still exist?
There are 4 present branches of the Borghese family:
- Borghese, descended from Marcantonio V, princes of Sulmona, Rossano, son of Francesco
- Borghese-Aldobrandini, descended from Camillo, princes of Meldola, son of Francesco
- Borghese-Salviati, descended from Scipione, dukes of Giuliano, son of Francesco
- Borghese-Torlonia, Giulio (1847–1914), princes of Fucino, grandson of Francesco, married princess Anna Maria Torlonia
🐎🌊 Fountain Seahorses in borghese park
You now cross one of the more picturesque, secluded spots of the park and reach the beautiful Fountain of the Seahorses by Unterberger. In the background, note a little neoclassical Temple of Diana.
Piazza di Siena, an oval in a splendid natural setting amid the umbrella pines of Rome, which is used for spectacles, fashion shows, and every April, an international horse show. Do walk over to have a look.
borghese park After the unification of Italy
This is the end of our walking Tour in Rome After the unification of Italy in 1861, a protracted legal controversy over the possession of the Villa came between the Borghese family and the Italian State, which in 1901 finally bought the entire monumental complex, then sold it to the Municipality of Rome and opened to the public.
The ownership of the Casino Nobile (the current Galleria Borghese), with its rich art collection, has been confirmed to the State, transforming it into a public museum where exhibitions and important artistic events are held.
In the early 20th century, the king of Italy bought the Villa and gardens. He donated them to the people, making it Rome’s central public park.
They were one of the leading families of the Black Nobility and maintained close ties to the Vatican.
Nobiltà nera, the black nobility are Roman aristocratic families who sided with the Papacy under Pope Pius IX after the Savoy family-led army of the Kingdom of Italy entered Rome on 20 September 1870, overthrew the Pope and the Papal States, and took over the Quirinal Palace, and any nobles subsequently ennobled by the Pope before the 1929 Lateran Treaty.
For the next 59 years, the Pope confined himself to Vatican City. He claimed to be a prisoner in the Vatican to avoid the appearance of accepting the authority of the new Italian government and State. Aristocrats who had been ennobled by the Pope and were formerly subjects of the Papal States, including the senior members of the Papal Court, kept the doors of their palaces in Rome closed to mourn the Pope’s confinement; which led to their being called the “black nobility.”
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