After ten years of negotiations and a complex legal battle, the Municipality of Rome opened Villa Borghese to the public, more than a year after the Government opened the Borghese Gallery. The opening of the Villa permitted the acquisition of an unrivalled property: 80 hectare park, 35 fountains, 15 minor buildings, 14 small edifices, 10 monuments and a large number or prestigious sculptures, vestiges of Cardinal Scipione Borghese's collection.
It's considered the city's most important green space. Painted by famous artists, the muse and inspiration of writers and celebrated musicians, Villa Borghese is perhaps Rome's best known 'villa', or park. Unique in the world for its concentration of cultural institutions, the park contains five museums and is ringed by a string of foreign academies representing Romania, Egypt, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Britain. Villa Borghese stretches across 80 hectares, including the Pincio area.
It's history began in 1580 with the planting of a modest vineyard. In the early 1600s Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese, favoured nephew of Pope Paul V, decided to acquire the surrounding land to create a "pleasure palace". Villa Borghese has now regained its ancient splendour. Recent work - some 20 building projects - have highlighted both its artistic and environmental value, restoring it to how it originally looked in the 16th century.
The Piazzale Flaminio entrance, the Pinciana Gate, Lions Gate, the Piazzale delle Canestre and the temple of Antonio and Faustina have all been restored. Rome authorities have called it the "Park of Museums" and dubbed it the city's cultural cornerstone. It's wide variety of plants have also been taken into account. The Valley of Plantains, also known as the Valley of Dogs, still contains some 400 different species.
The "Casina delle Rose" (House of Roses) has been earmarked to become the museum of the Villa Borghese park. Restoration plans intend it to be used to house 150 marble statues taken from the park and replaced with plaster copies. A park information and document centre will be installed in the 'Giardino della Meridiana' building and leaflets on the park will be distributed throughout the city's tourist information points (PIT).
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