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My last post on the Villa Borghese proved so popular I thought I would share another Roman palace with you, the Gallery Doria Pamphilj , which is also open to tour. Begun in the early 17th century by the Pamphilj family the Palazzo is arguably the largest in Rome and still family owned and occupied!  Added onto over successive generations the building is enormous and encompasses numerous different wings and courtyards, as seen by the ground floor plan above. If one tours the art gallery or private apartments you now enter off the Via del Corso through a beautiful courtyard, seen above. As the family is still in residence signs of daily life such as parked cars are evident throughout the building. Through a parking court and up a flight up stairs are the public galleries from the 18th century which make up the public art museum. These grand spaces definitely feel public but with a family as important as the Pamphilj one was meant to be impressed and possibly overwhelmed. The first ...

Before my trip to Rome everyone I talked to highly recommended a visit to the Villa Borghese gallery and also let me know to buy my tickets in advance as they frequently sell out.  I am so glad I took their advice because it became the highlight of the whole trip to Vienna, Venice & Rome. As predicted it had been sold out for weeks before. Nestled at the top of the hilltop Borghese Gardens the villa was built as a suburban party house for Cardinal Scipione Borghese (nephew to Pope Paul V) by architect Flaminio Ponzio in 1613. Built to house Borghese's large art collection, the villa was never meant to be a home. Rather it has always been filled with precious artworks by Bernini, Caravaggio, Titian, Raphael, Rubens and others; a veritable art history lesson under one roof. Because I'm obsessed with floorplans I had to include these plans of the Villa.  Above is the piano nobile or main floor which houses the bulk of the sculpture collection while the 2nd floor (or first f...