Rome Day 4 - Borghese Gallery

Friday, June 29, 2018

After three VERY full days of power sightseeing and miles of walking, we took the morning off to rest and recover a bit in our hotel room. We had reservations for the Borghese Gallery at 3:00, which was about a 30 minute walk from our hotel, so we left around 1:45 to allow ourselves time to meander and stop if we needed to. We grabbed a snack from a kiosk in the park and headed to the entrance to pick up our tickets. They are very strict with entry times, and visitors must have a reservation to enter, and are only allowed in for a two-hour window. After checking our bags, we entered this grand villa, which was the home of a Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who was the nephew of Pope Paul V. Borghese was a huge fan and supporter of Bernini, and had a large collection of other famous artists, including Raphael, Titian, and Caravaggio.

The villa's main purpose was to house these incredible works and to show them off. It was incredibly beautiful, but the Bernini sculptures just blew me away. My camera settings were off without my realizing it, so please forgive the poor quality of the photo, but the detail in his work is simply exquisite.

After our tour, we meandered slowly back through the vast gardens (think Central Park) enjoying some great people watching. Tons of locals and tourists alike, picnicking, napping on blankets in the grass, pedaling 4-wheeled pedal buggy carts along the shady, tree-lined paths. 

We passed through the impressive Piazza de Popolo, not far from our hotel, which would later be the sight for a celebration that we would discover later that evening.

After cleaning up, we headed to our hotel's rooftop terrace for drinks before dinner.

After drinks, we walked to the restaurant "Il Porto di Ripetta" where we enjoyed some beautiful food, with friendly, but frustratingly slow service. 

In the middle of dinner, we could hear symphonic music and fireworks just a block away, and we could see crowds of people flocking towards the square. It turns out there was a special celebration happening for the Roman holiday for Saints Peter and Paul, so we took turns walking to the square to watch the festivities. A fun ending to our last night in Rome!