Often referred to as Rome’s Central Park, the Villa Borghese is full of many special sights to see in close vicinity to hotels in Rome. Developed at the beginning of the seventeenth century by Scipione Borghese, the two main entrances are at the Porta del Popolo at the beginning of the via Flaminia, and the Porta Pinciana at the top of Via Veneto. The famous Piazza di Siena, site of horse shows, is in the Villa Borghese, as is the Museo e Galleria Borghese, where you can see Bernini’s famous sculpture of Apollo and Daphne, Caravaggio’s Boy with a Basket of Fruit, Canova’s sculpture of Venus Victrix, and paintings by Titian, Raphael, Peter Paul Reubens, and many others. While you stay in a hotel near Villa Borghese, you can also visit the Museo Nazionale Etrusco in the Villa Giulia, to see Etruscan and other pre-Roman objects, and the Museo Nazionale d’Arte Moderna to see art from the nineteenth century to the present. Don’t miss the Pincio, above Piazza Del Popolo, for a spectacular view of western Rome – it’s connected to the Villa Borghese via a bridge over the Viale del Muro Torto.
