Page 444 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

442  ROME AND LAZIO

Further Afield Sights at a Glance

It is well worth making the effort to see some of Rome’s outlying Churches and Temples
sights. Highlights are the Villa Giulia, home to a magnificent 5 Sant’Agnese fuori le Mura
6 Santa Costanza
Etruscan museum, and the Museo Borghese on the splendid 0 San Paolo fuori le Mura
Villa Borghese estate, with its extraordinary collection of Museums and Galleries
virtuoso statues by Bernini. Other sights range from ancient 2 Museo e Galleria Borghese
churches and catacombs to the more modern suburb of EUR, 3 Villa Giulia
a strange architectural medley begun by Mussolini in the 1930s. 4 MAXXI
Parks and Gardens
VIA SALA R I A Trieste VIA TIBURTINA 1 Villa Borghese
Ancient Roads and Sites
Primavalle
VIA FLAMINIA
Piazzale VIA NOMENTANA 7 Via Appia Antica
Flaminio Roma Tiburtina 8 Catacombs
A24
City Districts
Roma Termini
ROME 9 EUR
Tevere
Centocelle
Key
VIA CASILINA
Roma Tuscolana Central Rome
Roma Trastevere Roma Ostiense VIA APPIA Suburbs
VIA TUSCOLANA
Gianicolense VIA OSTIENSE Garbatella Cinecittà Motorway
VIA CRISTOFORO CO LOMBO Minor road
Major road
Basilica St. Paolo
VIA PORTUENSE City walls
Trullo EUR Magliana VIA ARDEATI N A VIA APPIA ANTICA 0 kilometres 3
A91 EUR 0 miles 3
1 Villa Borghese open to the public, but after casine (summerhouses) were
a visitor was shocked by the added. In 1901, the park and
Map 3 B1. @ 52, 53, 88, 116, 490. v
3, 19. Park Open dawn–dusk daily. collection of erotic paintings, villa were acquired by the State,
Paul V decided to keep the and in 1911 the area was
The villa and its park were park private. chosen as the site for the
designed in 1605 for Cardinal In 1773 work began on International Exhibition.
Scipione Borghese, the sybaritic redesigning the park in the Pavilions were built by many
nephew of Pope Paul V. An wilder, Romantic style made of the world’s nations, the most
extravagant patron of the arts, fashionable by landscape artists impressive of which is the
he amassed one of Europe’s like Claude Lorrain and Poussin. British School at Rome by
finest collections of paintings, Over the next few years mock­ Edwin Lutyens. In the
statues and antiquities, many of Classical temples, fountains and northeastern corner of the park
which are still displayed in the lie the Museo Zoologico and a
villa which he built especially to small redeveloped zoo, known
house his antique sculptures. as the Bioparco, where the
The park was one of the first emphasis is on conservation.
of its kind in Rome, its formal Today the estates of the Villa
gardens divided by avenues Borghese, Villa Giulia and the
and graced with statues. Pincio gardens form one vast
It contained 400 newly planted park, with the Giardino del
trees and garden sculpture by Lago, at its centre, named after
Bernini’s father, Pietro, along an artificial boating lake. Its
with many ingenious fountains, main entrance is marked
“secret” flower gardens, enclo­ by an 18th­century copy of the
sures of exotic animals and Arch of Septimius Severus,
birds, and even a grotto with while on the lake’s island is a
artificial rain. There was also a fake Ionic temple to the Greek
speaking robot and a trick chair, god of health, Aesculapius,
which trapped anyone who sat Temple of Aesculapius, an 18th-century designed by the 18th­century
in it. At first the grounds were folly, at the Villa Borghese architect Antonis Aspurucci.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp573–6 and pp596–600

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2)
Date 14th November 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm