Entrance to Villa Borghese
Rome Italy
2016

Just out of Porta del Popolo, on the side opposite the river, two neoclassical temples mark the entrance to Villa Borghese . They have been there since 1827 when they were built by the architect Luigi Canina to mark the expansion of the Villa up to here.

The Propylaea complex consists of two buildings in the form of neoclassical temples, located on the sides of the access road to the villa which, flanked by centuries-old holm oaks, rises from Piazzale Flaminio into the heart of the villa. The two main bodies are surmounted by the heraldic symbols of the Borghese family, the eagle and the dragon, in terracotta. The iron gate, also designed by Canina, is crowned by a palmette decoration that harmoniously stitches together the architectural elements that run along the cornices of the lower bodies of the two guardhouses. Outside the gates, in front of the propylaea, there are two milestones in travertine surmounted by a sphere held in the claws of an imperial eagle.

On the entablature of the small temples we can read the inscriptions that celebrate the works commissioned by Prince Camillo Borghese. On the north front we read: CAMIL. BVRGHESIVS PR. VILLAM SVAM SVBVRBANAM – IN AMPLIOREM FORMAM ORNATIOREMQ. REDEGIT (Prince Camillo Borghese restructured his suburban villa in a larger and more ornate form). On the south face: PROPYLEA PYLONA ARCVM PONTESQ. EXTRVXIT – IGNIS ET MONVM. omnigen. DITAVIT A. MDCCCXXX (he built the propylaea, the piers, the arch and the bridges, rich in statues and monuments of all kinds in the year 1830). Camillo Borghese is the revolutionary prince, appointed Napoleonic general, who marries Pauline Bonaparte and sells to France, yielding to pressure from his emperor brother-in-law, numerous works of art from the Borghese collection, now on display in the Louvre.

With this monumental entrance, the Prince intended to celebrate the expansion of the park of his suburban villa after the purchase of the land up to the Porta del Popolo . Before that, in fact, Villa Borghese reached the (still existing) wall behind the Garden of the Lake and its entrance was marked by the Egyptian Propylaea (also still existing on viale Fiorello la Guardia , shortly after the Orangery). Along that ancient border ran the vicolo delle Tre Madonne which from via Salaria Antica (approximately in correspondence with the current Piazza Pitagora ) followed the path of the currentvia Ulisse Aldrovandi to then reach the alley of Muro Torto with a silence inside the current Villa Borghese .

Inside the park of the villa where there is now the construction site for a new station that connects the subway to the railway line to Prima Porta, there was an artificial lake that served as a fishpond for the prince's pleasure. In those parts, a few meters deep, a stretch of Roman road was found practically intact.

https://www.villaborghesetours.com/info/villa-borghese-gardens/

Villa Borghese is the most popular park in Rome and is considered its green lung.
The Villa Borghese Gardens are located on the Pincian Hill, close to Spanish Steps and Piazza del Popolo. The Gardens cover an area of 80 hectares and were developed in 1606 by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who wanted to turn his former vineyard into the most extensive gardens built in Rome.
In the same period, the Cardinal commissioned the building of the Villa Borghese Pinciana to the architect Flaminio Ponzio; today this elegant building houses the Galleria Borghese, The gardens were completely redesigned in the naturalistic English style in XIX century and became a public park in 1903.