THE VILLA MON DRACA)NE AND VILLA BORGIIESE, FRASCATI. 185 
Cardinal Marco d’Altemps in honour of Gregory XIII, and called after the dragon which 
was the Pope’s crest. At Este another cardinal was causing a dragon fountain to burst out, 
to gratify the Pope, and a cardinal of Frascati must not be outdone. They had grand ideas 
of making gifts in those days, for the Villa Borghese, which lies at the foot of the Mon Dragone 
grounds was given to Paul V by its owner. Count Ferdinand Taverna, Governor of Rome. 
The Pontiff intended to 
throw the two villas into 
one, and proposed to 
make a new road leading 
straight from St. John 
Tateran to the door, and 
so lightly did they 
reckon of vast under- 
takings that we are left 
with a feeling of surprise 
that these modest pro- 
jects were actually 
abandoned. 
The glories of Mon 
Dragone have passed 
away. It was laid waste 
in 1821 by the army of 
the Austrian occupation 
when marching towards 
Naples. The beautiful 
English princess 
Gwendoline Borghese 
had made plans for its 
restoration, but her 
sudden death put a stop 
to them. The huge old 
house is now a religious 
college, the principal of 
which shows the kindest 
hospitality in allowing 
sightseers and artists to 
wander over the grounds. 
The picturesque 
gateway illustrated here 
(Fig. 191) is in the garden 
of the Villa Borghese at 
Frascati. The villa lies 
immediately below Mon 
Dragone, and is the one 
which Ferdinando 
Taverna, Governor of 
191. — GATHWAY OF THE VILLA BORGHESE, FRASCATI. Rome, presented to 
Paul V. It was built for 
Cardinal Borghese by the Roman architect Girolamo Rainaldi, and a grand avenue of cypresses 
led from it to Mon Dragone. It has passed into the possession of a family named Parisi, who 
now call it by their name. 
One of the comparatively little visited villas is that belonging to the Barberini family at 
Castel Gandolfo, the grounds of which take up the whole side of the hill reaching to Albano. 
The villa garden is full of vestiges of antiquity, and is an example of the way in which the 
