Villa Borghese - A Cardinal Experience in Rome, Rome, Italy

Rome is the densely populated and intensely popular capital city of Italy. But, right in the middle of its extensive urbanisation is the large and extraordinary public park, Villa Borghese. It is thanks to the cardinals and popes of long ago that this area has survived as an oasis of tranquillity in a modern city. It is thanks to their wealth that the park is sprinkled with beautiful fountains and the occasional temple.

During the sixteenth century there was a vineyard on the land acquired by Cardinal Scipione Borghese in 1605. Scipione was a nephew of Pope Paul V V. The Borghese family, a noble and papal Sienese family moved to Rome during the sixteenth century and quickly accumulated wealth and prominence thanks to their connection with the Roman Catholic Church. When Camillo Borghese was elected Pope Paul V in 1605 he made Scipione a Cardinal and head of the Vatican government. Through his position Scipione was able to accumulate great wealth through papal fees and taxes. He was a passionate are collector and invested a lot of his money in the family art collection which is now on display in the Galleria Borghese. He purchased and commissioned art by several renowned Italian artists including Caravaggio, Raphael, and Titian. An ardent patron of the young sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini he helped him rise to fame in the seventeenth century. One of the most famous pieces in the Galleria Borghese is Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).