Villa Borghese, Rome

Villa Borghese is a landscape garden that unfolds as a park of paths, buildings, museums, fountains, and small lakes. Its area is 80 hectares, making it the third-largest public park in Rome. As you walk along its avenues, notice how formal garden spaces give way to broad landscape scenery.

Cardinal Scipione Borghese began creating the estate in 1605, turning a former vineyard into an immense setting for leisure and art. Flaminio Ponzio designed the villa from Borghese’s sketches, and Giovanni Vasanzio completed the work after Ponzio’s death. The park later changed character: Marcantonio Borghese commissioned Antonio Asprucci and his son Mario to reshape it, including the Garden of the Lake.

Follow the paths toward that lake and look for the Temple of Aesculapius, whose image is reflected in the water. The gardens became public in 1903 after purchase by Rome’s authorities. Along the avenues, monuments honour foreign personalities and writers, including Victor Hugo and Goethe.

The Pincio garden occupies the southern part of the park and offers a celebrated view across Rome. The estate is also home to the Galleria Borghese, where works by Bernini, Titian, Raphael, Caravaggio, and Canova are displayed.