VILLA BORGHESE, 
ROME. 
HE end of the sixteenth and beginning of 
the seventeenth centuries in Rome saw 
the creation of the greater part of the 
modern aristocracy. With the one excep- 
tion of the Farnese, no Pope of the Renaissance had 
founded a great family, but now came the period 
of nepotism, and each successive Pope was ambitious 
of founding a princely House. Great Roman 
families were established, and the magnificent 
palaces and villas required by these, with their 
unbounded taste for pomp and display, spread 
over vast sites, till then covered by mean_ build- 
ings or gardens and vineyards. The family of 
Borghese was one of the earliest to rise into 
splendour. It was in 1605 that Camillo Borghese 
was raised to the papal throne as Paul V., and the 
splendid patron of art to whom we owe the villa 
was born in 1576. Scipione Caffarelli was the 
Pope’s nephew on his sister’s side. He had been 
brought up at Perugia, where his wit and versatility 
raised the highest expectations, and immediately 
on his uncle’s accession he was sent for to the 
Vatican. The Pope formally adopted him, giving 
him the name and arms of the Borghese ; he was 
created a Cardinal, and at once assumed the superin- 
tendence of the palace, the direction of politics and 
management of State affairs. In April, 1608, the 
State archives notice that Cardinal Scipione Bor- 
ghese intends to establish a grand villa outside 
Porta Pinciana, and in the following years we more 
than once find Pope Paul giving him ‘“ another 
vineyard” to add to it. 
The nucleus was a small vineyard lying along 
the long western wall, called Muro Torto, which 
had belonged to the family before Camillo’s acces- 
sion. In the year 1612 the church benefices 
conferred on the Cardinal were computed to secure 
him an income of 150,000 scudi. The Pope 
loaded him with presents, jewels, vessels of silver, 
and magnificent furniture. It is only fair to recol- 
lect that he and the Pope rivalled one another in 
acts of generosity and munificence towards others. 
Cardinal Scipione was deeply beloved. His 
gentleness and courtesy, his kindness of heart, 
gained him the title of “the delight of Rome.” 
~The gossiping archives of the time constantly 
mention instances of his goodness and his popularity. 
62 
A lady, whose daughter is shamefully ill-treated 
by her husband, appeals to him in heartrending 
distress, another lays before him all the details of 
a lawsuit, poets dedicate their works to him, ambas- 
sadors come to see his latest acquisitions. He was 
one of the earliest and most generous patrons of 
Bernini, who has left us two splendid portrait busts 
of him, which are now in the Accademia in 
Venice. Here we have the great prelate of the 
seventeenth century, as he swept through the marble 
halls of his palace in robe and biretta of crimson 
silk : the urbane, pleasure-loving patron of the fine 
arts, the easy, courteous host. Here is his ample 
face and form, his dignified bearing ; the eyes are 
small and piercing, yet good-tempered, the nose 
coarse, the mouth large and genial, the countenance 
has a look of power and large kindliness. 
His first idea in making the villa seems to 
have been the wish to have a place of his own 
outside the city to which he could invite Court 
personages and distinguished foreigners. He had 
already acquired an estate at Frascati, and had there 
built a superb villa; but as Secretary of State, he 
found it difficult to go there frequently, much more 
so to transport there the ecclesiastics of the Sacred 
College, the Roman nobility, the foreign ambas- 
sadors, and the Court ladies who made up the 
society in which he delighted. He designed it 
also in a measure for the benefit of the Roman 
people, to whom it was often opened. 
Scipione Borghese died in 1633, leaving all his 
possessions to his brother, Marc Antonio, who had 
been created Prince of Sulmona. In succeeding 
years there are continual records of vineyards and 
pieces of land being bought and thrown into the 
grounds. The Borghese princes always reserved 
the right to close it on certain days, but about 
1828 it became looked upon almost as a public 
resort. In that year its owner complains of damage 
done to the fountains, and it was closed for a time, 
but was again opened at the urgent request of 
Cardinal Aldobrandini. In 1832 permission was 
given to open a restaurant, splendid public fétes 
were held there, and by 1865 it was thrown open 
on six days of the week. When an attempt was 
made to close it in 1884 the public rebelled, and 
the papers declared that the populace, citizens, 
