Villa Borghese

Villa Borghese is a large historic park in central Rome, shaped by the Borghese family from the early seventeenth century and transferred to the state in 1903 for use as a public park. Its gardens, fountains, historic buildings and museums reflect several centuries of Roman landscape design.

Why it matters

Cardinal Scipione Borghese commissioned the villa and gardens between 1608 and 1633. The estate combines formal landscapes and architecture with cultural institutions, including the Galleria Borghese in the Casino Borghese and the Museo Carlo Bilotti in the Aranciera. Its later transformation into a public park made the former family estate part of Rome's shared civic landscape.

What to notice

The park holds traces of distinct design periods. The early Baroque plan developed under Flaminio Ponzio and Giovanni Vasanzio, with Girolamo Rainaldi continuing the work from 1621. In the eighteenth century, Marcantonio Borghese and architects Antonio and Mario Asprucci reshaped the grounds with avenues, temples and Piazza di Siena. The Giardini Segreti and the Giardino del Lago preserve further elements of the estate's historic design; the Tempietto di Esculapio stands on an island in the lake.

Context and history

The Borghese estate expanded during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with new avenues, gardens and buildings added by successive generations. The Italian state purchased the villa in 1903 and designated it a public park. Its cultural quarter grew further around the 1911 international exhibition at nearby Valle Giulia, bringing museums and academies into the surrounding landscape.