Galleria Borghese & Villa Borghese
ROM-10 • museums1613 - 1616

Galleria Borghese & Villa Borghese

Cardinal Scipione Borghese's palatial villa housing Bernini sculptures and Caravaggio masterworks

41.914200°N, 12.492200°E•city Axis
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Documented Historiographical History

Commissioned in the early 17th century by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, and designed by Flaminio Ponzio. Houses world-renowned masterpieces by Bernini, Caravaggio, Titian, and Canova.

Architectural & Symbolic Reading

A sanctuary of sensuous Baroque beauty where cold marble comes alive with flesh, movement, and dramatic passion.

Historical Legends & Mysteries

Cardinal Scipione Borghese was notorious for using papal police coercion and confiscation to acquire coveted masterworks for his collection.

Insider Curiosities & Secret Facts
•Bernini's 'Apollo and Daphne' captures the exact instant Daphne's fingers transform into laurel leaves and her toes sprout roots.
•The gallery holds six major paintings by Caravaggio, including 'Boy with a Basket of Fruit' and 'David with the Head of Goliath'.
•Canova's semi-nude marble statue of Napoleon's sister, Paolina Borghese as Venus Victrix, shocked 19th-century Roman society.
Related Tags:#Galleria Borghese#Bernini#Caravaggio#Apollo and Daphne#Canova

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