Piazza le Scipione Borghese 5. Tues-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 9am-5pm; pre-booked visits every 2hr; to book call 06.32.810 – lines are open Mon-Fri 9am-7pm, Sat 9am-1pm; L12,000. The best place to make for first, if you want some focus to your wanderings, is the Casino Borghese itself, on the far orient side, which was built in the primeval seventeenth century and turned over to the state when the gardens became city property in 1902 as the Galleria Borghese . Recently reopened after a lengthy restoration, the Borghese has taken its place as one of Rome’s great treasure houses and should not be missed.

When Camillo Borghese was elected pope and took the papal study Paul V in 1605, he elevated his favourite nephew, Scipione Caffarelli Borghese, to the cardinalate and place him in charge of diplomatic, ceremonial and cultural matters at the papal court. Scipione possessed an infallible instinct for recognizing artistic quality, and, driven by ruthless passion, he used clean means or foul to acquire the most prized works of art. He was also shrewd enough to patronize outstanding talents like Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Caravaggio, Domenichino, Guido Reni and Peter Paul Rubens. To house the works of these artists, as well as his collection of antique sculpture and other works, he built the Casino, or summer house, and predictably he spared no expense. The palace, which was built in the primeval 1600s, is a celebration of the ancient splendour of the Roman Empire: over the years its art collection has been added to, and its rooms redecorated – most notably during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, when the ceilings were re-done to match thematically the art works of apiece room. The recent restoration of the sumptuous interior seemed to go on forever, but it was finished a couple of years ago, and now the gallery’s Roman-era mosaics, rich stucco decorations and trompe l’oeil ceilings wage the perfect surroundings in which to enjoy the art works which Cardinal Scipione Borghese collected so voraciously