In the north of Rome's city center, near the famous Piazza del Popolo, on Pincio Hill - from where you can admire a splendid panorama - is the most famous park of the capital. Despite its 80 hectares, it is not the largest in Rome - it is the park of Villa Doria Pamphilj - but it is the most appreciated. It has even been nicknamed "The green lung of Rome".
In the morning you will find many sportsmen: walkers, joggers, bikers ... and at noon the park is full of families and groups of friends who join to picnic.
The park is decorated with umbrella pines, many statues - mostly copies of antique statues - several Baroque fountains, many small buildings such as temples dedicated to the gods Adonis, Faustina and Diana and small artificial lakes that him give it a particular and picturesque charm.
In the Giardino del Lago, you will discover an artificial lake in the middle of which is the small temple of Esculape - a neoclassical temple that dates back to the late eighteenth century. Boats can be rented (5€ for 20 minutes) to get closer to the temple and enjoy the freshness of the lake. It is perfect for a pleasant and romantic moment, where one could never imagine being in a capital city.
In the park you can also rent different means of transport such as bicycles, Segway ...
- Rent a bike: 4€ per hour or 10€ for the day.
- Rent a "bike" for four people: 20€ per hour.
- Rent a segway: 15€ per hour.
Apart from its quiet and pleasant character the place is also very popular with tourists and art lovers who come to visit the many museums of the park: The Borghese Gallery, the National Gallery of Modern Art, the Etruscan Museum and the villa Medici, not far from the park . The park also hosts a zoo.
A little history:
Originally this place was a private vineyard that was bought in 1605 by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V. He transformed it into the largest garden in Rome since ancient times (it is no longer the case today) and had a "villa" built there - a word that meant "country house" to well-to-do people. . At that time the property was private and only accessible to the guests. In the eighteenth century, the heirs of the cardinal made important work in the park to give it its current form, more inspired by English gardens, which were fashionable in the 1700s.
The Borghese Gallery:
Cardinal Borghese was a passionate patron of culture. He first used his villa as a place of conservation for his ancient and contemporary sculptures. When he subsequently acquired many paintings, he kept them in the same place.
One of his descendants, Camillo Borghese, married Pauline Bonaparte and had to give some of the family collection to his brother-in-law, Emperor Bonaparte. Today we can admire these works in the Louvres. One of the most famous works of the villa is a statue of the young woman, which can be admired in the Pauline Room. She posed naked for the famous sculptor Antonio Canova even though doing so was a huge scandal for the time.
The second most famous work of the Borghese Museum is Bernini’s sculpture of Apollo and Daphne commissioned by Cardinal Borghese himself.
You can also admire works by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Raphael...
Reservation required (and booking fee of 2 €)
Price: full price: 15€, members of the European Union under 25: 8€50, under 18 and students in art and architecture: 2€
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 9 am to 7 pm
Address: Piazzale Scipione Borghese, 5
The Etruscan Museum:
Not far from Villa Borghese, stands Villa Giulia, an imposing building that includes the largest collection in the world dedicated to the Etruscan civilization. The palace is also surrounded by gardens where it is pleasant to walk.
Price: full price: 8€, members of the European Union under 25 years old: 4€, under 18: free
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 9 am to 8 pm (11 pm on Saturdays)
Address: Via di Villa Giulia, 9
The National Gallery of Modern Art:
This gallery includes more than 5,000 paintings and sculptures by Italian and European artists from the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Klimt, Kandinsky, Monet, Rodin, van Gogh...
Price: full price: 10€, members of the European Union under 25 years: 5€, under 18 and students in art and architecture: free
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm
Address: Viale delle Belle Arti, 131
The Medici Villa:
The Villa Medici is not really in the park of Villa Borghese but close to the entrance of the park and the church of Trinità dei Monti.
The Villa was built in 1564 for Cardinal Giovanni Ricci di Montepulciano by architect Giovanni Lippi. In 1576, Cardinal Ferdinand de Medici acquired it and had it decorated by Bartolomeo Ammannati.
Since 1803, Villa Medici hosts the Academy of France in Rome. It can only be visited with a guide in the following languages:
French: every day at 10h, 11h, 12h, 15h, 16h30, 18h
Italian: every day at 12h, 16h30
English: every day at 11h, 15h30, 17h30
Spanish: every Saturday at 4 pm
Russian: every Saturday at 3.30 pm
Price: full price: 12€, student and under 25: 6€
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm
Address: Viale della Trinità dei Monti, 1
Bioparco:
North of the park you can visit the Zoo of Rome, one of the oldest zoos in Europe. Founded in the early twentieth century, this zoo's mission is to protect and study endangered species. This allows us to observe more than 200 species including tigers, elephants, many turtles, wild dogs, many monkeys , crocodiles, leopards, gazelles, bears, wolves, kangaroos ... Some endangered species are being rehabilitated to be released into the wild.
This zoo is very pleasant for visitors: there are a lot of plants, many animal observation posts, large alleys, educational and funny posters for children in front of most enclosures ... At certain times it is even possible to observe the healers feed some animals.
The animals look healthy and some have large pens. Other species have a smaller pen and when it is the case, one can think it is a shame that the visitors have very large aisles when they need less space than animals.
Price: full price: 16€, child under 10 years and groups of 15 people minimum: 13€, child under one meter: free
Hours: from March 24th to October 28th: from 9:30 am to 6 pm and from October 29th to March 23rd: from 9:30 am to 5 pm
Warning ! The enclosures of cats (lions, linxes, leopards, tigers) and reptiles close an hour before the park closes, that of chimpanzees 45 minutes before and those of giraffes, bears and elephants 30 minutes before the closure of the park.
Address: Viale del Giardino Zoologico, 1
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