Roma Borghese Galleria and Beyond

Who is supervising this person?




I think this is your author being supervised by a local roman goddess

Today was our day at the Villa Borghese, a huge park (1700 acres), the largest green space in Rome, that includes the zoo, a beautiful lake, shaded paths, benches and the lovely Galleria Borghese, which is full of both renaissance and baroque art.

We were lucky that our hotel is only about 20 minutes walk from the museum and we were not hit by a single scooter or electric car as we meandered over. We were looked at with contempt at red “do not walk” signs by Romans, who sailed out into busy intersections, merely holding out hands to the vehicles approaching at breakneck speed. We got our tickets (we had made a reservation weeks ago), checked our cameras and backpacks and off we went. I don't think our mouths closed the whole time we were there. This museum used to be the residence of Cardinal Scipioni Borghese, who was a patron of both Caravaggio and Bernini and it includes amazing sculptures, like Bernini's “Apollo and Daphne” with Daphne turning into a tree to escape the ardent Apollo and Caravaggio's “Madonna of the Serpent.”

We were overwhelmed and Bill loved seeing an old postcard of how the museum looked in 1636.

and taking a photo outside of how it looks today, gargoyles intact.

Looks like a picnic in Rome!!!!!!

and another gargoyle who was trying to tell us something? OOOOOOOOOOOOO

It is surrounded by beautiful gardens, locked so we could not get into the side ones, but the one that was open in the back, a formal English garden was in the process having new lavender planted in all the low boxed hedge centers. Saw even more art up in the Pinoteca on the second floor, including several renditions of “Bring me the head of John the Baptist,” like this one of Guido Reni.

When we finished we bought our postcards in the shop, no photos allowed and started walking through the park, past statues of both Goethe (do you think he is in trouble?)and Victor Hugo, who apparently lived here at one time, as did lots of English writers, like John Keats who lived in what's called “The English Ghetto” and actually died in Rome.

We also could see the vatican from a distance with local apartments in the foreground

We walked all the way through the park to the Pincio, which overlooks the Piazza del Popolo. We stayed up to take pictures of this beautiful Piazza, which was built in 1535 and has as a centerpiece an 82 foot Obelisk that was brought by Augustus from Heliopolis, where it originally honored Ramese II.

A trident of strees, like spokes on a wheel move out from this Piazza, two of them on either side of twin 17^th century churches, Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Montesanto, both built by Fontana.

We had lunch at a tiny Tavalo Caldo, very crowded, where you tell them the pizze you want a piece of, they heat it up and off you go to a tiny table. Nearby were a few vespas, which appears to be the major daredevil method of transporation. they drive with abandon!

We cabbed home because it was just to hot and we'd just walked too far.

Tomorrow we are hoping to at least get to St. Peter's square because we've noticed that even though we are supposed to tour the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican on Sunday, they will probably be closed and so the tour will substitute something else. We'll keep you posted about that.