DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68272#0095
VILLA BORGHESE AND THE BORGHESE PALACE, ROME.
77
and the result is an ideal landscape, a woodland scene that seems to have been projected out of
the poet’s mind. If the ancient Faun could reappear anywhere, it must surely be in such a
scene as this.”
Imitation classic ruins are constructed here and there out of the ancient materials which
abounded everywhere. The woodland is broken up by groups of interest. Mounting up
from the Piazza del Popolo you reach an open space, guarded by two obelisks of red Egyptian
granite, stone seats are set round against a low wall, a stone lion keeps guard above, and one tall
cypress stands sentinel. Here is the entrance to the “ Garden of the Lake,” the most popular
corner of the grounds. The enclosure is gay with flowers, brilliant in the spring with purple
Judas trees. The lake itself is very pretty, with its swans and its pseudo-Greek temple reflected
88.—CASINO OF THE VILLA BORGHESE, ROME.
From an old book of the Palaces of Rome.
in the water. Fine sarcophagi and tombs are placed under the old trees, and in spring the
glades are blue with ground ivy and bluebells.
In the boscareccio and in the adjoining “park” were formerly situated the “seraglio of
the tortoises,” the “ seraglio of the gazelles,” the “ wood for hunting thrushes,” and the
“ Ragnaia,” or enclosure for coursing hares. Numbers of animals were kept in the park :
deer, goats, Indian pigs, ostriches, peacocks, swans and ducks, and small birds were as
legitimate an object of the chase as they still are to-day in Italy.
Finally we mount up to the nucleus of it all, the casino or pleasure-house which the princely
Cardinal built to entertain his guests in. It was only a summer-house and never a home, for
the dread malaria forbade its being dwelt in, save very occasionally. “ If you come hither in
summer and stray through these glades in the golden sunset, fever walks arm-in-arm with you,
and death awaits you at the end of the dim vista.” It is set in a courtyard, with flights of steps,
balustrades of travertine and fountains, and everywhere is sculptured the dragon and crowned
eagle, the arms of the “ most excellent House of Borghese.” E. M. P.
(1) Entrance.
(2) Vestibule open to garden.
(3) Hall.
(4) Hall of Seneca.
(5) Salle des Villes.
(6) Hall of Apollo and Daphne.
(7) Hall of the Emperors.
(8) Hall of the Hermaphrodite.
(9) Hall of the Gladiator.
(See plan on page 76.)
(10) Hall of the Egyptian.
(n) Hall of the Roman.
(12) Staircase.
(13) Small botany gardens.
77
and the result is an ideal landscape, a woodland scene that seems to have been projected out of
the poet’s mind. If the ancient Faun could reappear anywhere, it must surely be in such a
scene as this.”
Imitation classic ruins are constructed here and there out of the ancient materials which
abounded everywhere. The woodland is broken up by groups of interest. Mounting up
from the Piazza del Popolo you reach an open space, guarded by two obelisks of red Egyptian
granite, stone seats are set round against a low wall, a stone lion keeps guard above, and one tall
cypress stands sentinel. Here is the entrance to the “ Garden of the Lake,” the most popular
corner of the grounds. The enclosure is gay with flowers, brilliant in the spring with purple
Judas trees. The lake itself is very pretty, with its swans and its pseudo-Greek temple reflected
88.—CASINO OF THE VILLA BORGHESE, ROME.
From an old book of the Palaces of Rome.
in the water. Fine sarcophagi and tombs are placed under the old trees, and in spring the
glades are blue with ground ivy and bluebells.
In the boscareccio and in the adjoining “park” were formerly situated the “seraglio of
the tortoises,” the “ seraglio of the gazelles,” the “ wood for hunting thrushes,” and the
“ Ragnaia,” or enclosure for coursing hares. Numbers of animals were kept in the park :
deer, goats, Indian pigs, ostriches, peacocks, swans and ducks, and small birds were as
legitimate an object of the chase as they still are to-day in Italy.
Finally we mount up to the nucleus of it all, the casino or pleasure-house which the princely
Cardinal built to entertain his guests in. It was only a summer-house and never a home, for
the dread malaria forbade its being dwelt in, save very occasionally. “ If you come hither in
summer and stray through these glades in the golden sunset, fever walks arm-in-arm with you,
and death awaits you at the end of the dim vista.” It is set in a courtyard, with flights of steps,
balustrades of travertine and fountains, and everywhere is sculptured the dragon and crowned
eagle, the arms of the “ most excellent House of Borghese.” E. M. P.
(1) Entrance.
(2) Vestibule open to garden.
(3) Hall.
(4) Hall of Seneca.
(5) Salle des Villes.
(6) Hall of Apollo and Daphne.
(7) Hall of the Emperors.
(8) Hall of the Hermaphrodite.
(9) Hall of the Gladiator.
(See plan on page 76.)
(10) Hall of the Egyptian.
(n) Hall of the Roman.
(12) Staircase.
(13) Small botany gardens.