A private art collection that's second to none
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The Borghese Gallery, Rome is in the former 'Villa Borghese Pinciana', an incredible 17th century villa commissioned by the Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V.
The Borghese family owned the property until 1902 at which point the Italian government purchased the property and then turned it into a public museum.
The Borghese Gallery is home to one of the largest private art collections in the world, and includes paintings, sculptures and antiques. Due to the collection the gallery is one of Rome’s most popular attractions and also one of the busiest and to assist with that, our tickets come with a designated timeslot.
The Borghese Gallery hosts an incredible collection of works including ancient Roman pieces, Renaissance pieces as well as Baroque art. With master pieces on show from the likes of Caravaggio's 'Saint Jerome Writing', Raphael’s 'Deposition' and Titan’s 'Sacred and Profane Love' as well as 'David' and 'Apollo and Daphne' by Bernini, 'The Rape of Proserpina' along with Canova’s semi-nude 'Venus Victrix' a sculpture of Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix, can also be found here.
The collection also includes an impressive collection of ancient mosaics, frescoes and decorative arts curated by the Borghese family, or ‘The House of Borghese’ as the family was known. A wealthy and noble family that moved to Rome in the 16th century.
They grew the collection to a point whereby it no longer fitted in their property which meant they had to move it and thus became the 'Galleria Borghese' which sits in Villa Borghese Park, which was part of their family estate.
Because of the location of the gallery it also has the added bonus of being surrounded by beautiful gardens which themselves attract the public and its common to visit the gallery and then go for a peaceful walk around the gardens after.
FUN FACT: The Borghese Family and Napoleon Bonaparte are related due to Napoleon's sister, Pauline Bonaparte marrying a member of the Borghese family.