Old Gardens of Italy 119 



VILLA BORGESE, ROME 



Now known as the Villa Comunale Umberto 

 Primo. Built about 1618 for Cardinal Scipio 

 Borgese by Giovanni Vasanzio (II Fiammingo). 

 Gardens laid out by Rainaldi and extended by 

 Domenico Savino. Waterworks designed by 

 G. Fontana. Gardens "landscaped" in 1789 by 

 Jacob Moore and Pietro Camporesi. 



It is now a public park, and is entered by a 

 gateway just outside the Porto del Popolo and by 

 another opposite the Porta Pinciana (at the top of 

 the Via Veneto), and by others of less importance. 

 The formal part of the original design is seen in 

 the fountain and enclosing caryatid figures behind 

 the casino (this part of the grounds is now going to 

 ruin), in the giardino secreto with its aviary, 

 fountains, and gateways to the north-west of the 

 house, and in the delightfully planned forecourt 

 with its stepped-up balustrade and seats and its 

 entrance between two statues with fountains at 

 their bases. The park, which is very extensive, 

 including some hundreds of acres, has here and 

 there noticeable features. It contains what was 

 formerly the private garden of the Borgese family, 

 a small enclosure with symmetrical flower-beds and 

 a lake, on the banks of which stands a temple of 

 ^Esculapius. This and the hippodrome were 

 probably additions of the eighteenth century. In 

 1902 the property was purchased from Prince 

 Borgese for the State for three million francs 

 (,120,000). 



