A day of solitude at the Borghese Park and Gallery. Oh, there were many people enjoying this national holiday, this giorno festivo, celebrating the Anniversary of the Founding of the Republic in 1946, but the park is so vast; there room for everyone.
The surprise of the day was that I walked into the Borghese Gallery at 2:30 and was able to purchase a ticket for a 3 o’clock entry. These tickets are hard to come by if you don’t reserve them on line, but I’m finding that one person can slip under various radar screens. This was a delightful coup.
Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew (hence the word nepotism) of Pope Paul V (1605-1621) built the gallery and filled it with ancient artifacts, contemporary sculpture and paintings, and everything in between. In particular he was a patron of the painter Caravaggio and the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. I couldn’t take photos, but here’s a sample from the internet. Awesome.
Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew (hence the word nepotism) of Pope Paul V (1605-1621) built the gallery and filled it with ancient artifacts, contemporary sculpture and paintings, and everything in between. In particular he was a patron of the painter Caravaggio and the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. I couldn’t take photos, but here’s a sample from the internet. Awesome.
Boy with a Basket of Fruit, by Caravaggio
Apollo and Daphne, by Bernini