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Galleria Borghese: Bernini and Caravaggio in a cardinal's villa

The Galleria Borghese is a small museum with a collection most large ones would envy, in the villa it was made for. You cannot walk in: every visit is booked for a set time.

The white front of the Galleria Borghese, with its double staircase, at the end of a gravel court.
Alessio Damato, CC BY-SA 3.0
What it is
Museum
Time to allow
2 hours
Cost
Ticket, booked ahead
Best time
The first visit of the day

Rome this week

    Why the Galleria Borghese is worth it

    Cardinal Scipione Borghese was the nephew of Pope Paul V and the most ruthless collector of his day. He built this villa at the edge of Rome in the early seventeenth century to hold what he had bought, been given and, more than once, simply taken. He was the first great patron of the young Bernini, and he owned more Caravaggios than anyone.

    Much of what he gathered is still in the rooms he gathered it for. That is what makes the place: Bernini's sculptures stand where they were meant to stand, in the middle of the floor, to be walked round. Apollo and Daphne changes as you move, from a chase to a girl turning into a tree.

    Because numbers are limited and visits are timed, it is never crowded the way the Vatican is. You have two hours and room to look.

    What to see

    1. Bernini's Apollo and Daphne

      Finished in 1625, when he was in his twenties. Her fingers are becoming laurel leaves, so thin that the marble lets the light through.

    2. The Rape of Proserpina and the David

      Two more by Bernini. In the first, carved in 1621 and 1622, Pluto's fingers press into her thigh as if it were flesh. His David is caught in the act of throwing.

    3. The Caravaggio room

      Six paintings, from the early Boy with a Basket of Fruit and the Sick Bacchus to the late David with the Head of Goliath, where the severed head is the painter's own portrait.

    4. Pauline Bonaparte and the picture gallery

      Canova carved Napoleon's sister as Venus, half naked on a marble couch. Upstairs are Titian's Sacred and Profane Love and Raphael's Entombment.

    How to do it well

    • Reserve days ahead, weeks ahead in spring and autumn. There are no tickets for walk-ins when a slot is full, and most are.
    • Arrive half an hour early to change your booking for a ticket and leave your bag. All bags, however small, go in the cloakroom.
    • Start upstairs with the paintings while everyone else starts with the sculpture, then come down. You will have Bernini more nearly to yourself.
    • The museum is in the middle of the Villa Borghese park, fifteen minutes' walk from the nearest metro. Leave time to find it.
    • Afterwards, walk west through the park to the Pincio terrace for the view over Piazza del Popolo.

    Where it is

    Address

    Piazzale Scipione Borghese, in the Villa Borghese park

    Nearest station

    Spagna or Barberini, on line A, then fifteen to twenty minutes on foot

    Museums and sights nearby

    Distances are in a straight line.

    Tickets and tours: Galleria Borghese

    Galleria Borghese: common questions

    Do you need to book the Galleria Borghese in advance?
    Yes. Entry is by reservation only, for a set time, and the number of visitors in each slot is limited. In high season the slots sell out days or weeks ahead.
    How long is a visit to the Galleria Borghese?
    Each visit lasts two hours, from the time on the booking. That is enough to see both floors without hurrying.
    What is the Galleria Borghese famous for?
    Bernini's sculptures, above all Apollo and Daphne and the Rape of Proserpina, Canova's statue of Pauline Bonaparte, and paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael and Titian.
    How much time do you need for the Galleria Borghese?
    Allow 2 hours. That is this site's estimate for an unhurried visit.

    What visitors say about the Galleria Borghese

    Rating from Google

    4.6

    30,647 ratings on Google

    Google's figures as read on 6 October 2026.

    Read every review on Google

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