Borghese Gallery, Canova’s Masterpieces Skip-the-Line Guided Tour
Description
Enjoy the Borghese Gallery and Villa Borghese Gardens in Rome with skip-the-line admission and a guided walking tour limited to 15 people. This popular attraction often sells out in advance, so by pre-booking a ticket, visit one of the world’s most beautiful art museums hosting the works of extraordinary artists. Admire Caravaggio’s most important paintings, among which “Young sick Bacchus” and “Boy with a Basket of Fruit”; Bernini and Canova’s magnificent sculptures’ collection, boasting works like “Apollo and Daphne”, “David”, “The Rape of Proserpina” and “Paolina Bonaparte”. Of course the tour won’t miss out on Raffaello’s “Entombment of Christ”. The guide will lead the tour through the marvelous rooms of Casina Borghese, with its splendid frescoes, disclose the secrets, the stories and the painting techniques concealed behind the masterpieces of one of the world’s most beautiful art museum. Villa Borghese gardens and gallery, you cannot miss it when you visit Rome.
Tour Options
Itinerary
The best way for us to describe the Villa Borghese gardens is: As the keeper of the Villa Borghese Pinciana, I publicly declare: whoever you are, providing to be a freeman, fear no hindrance here; go where you like, ask what you wish; leave when you want. Everything you see was made more for the guest than for its landlord. In the golden century, when peaceful years made any thing splendid for the refined ones, the landlord forbade all iron rules for the guest. Let good faith be the only rule for our friend. But if someone, consciously and purposely, by wickedness and deceit, was to break the golden rules of courtesy, be alert, the angry keeper may break these friendly words on your head. (Latin inscription carved on marble plate at Villa Borghese).
We will visit one of the world’s most beautiful art museum hosting the works of extraordinary artists such as Bernini, Caravaggio, Canova and Raffaello. The gallery’s most important sculptures and paintings are from Cardinal Scipione Borghese’s collection (1579 - 1633). We’ll admire Caravaggio’s most important paintings, among which “Young sick Bacchus” and “ Boy with a basket of fruit”; Bernini and Canova’s magnificent sculptures’ collection, boasting works like “Apollo and Daphne”, “David”, “The rape of Preserpina” and “Paolina Bonaparte”. Of course we won’t miss out on Raffaello’s “Entombment of Christ”. We will lead you through the marvelous rooms of Casina Borghese, with its splendid frescoes, we’ll disclose the secrets, the stories and the painting techniques concealed behind the masterpieces of one of the world’s most beautiful art museum. To end the tour, we’ll walk through the Villa Borghese gardens, enjoying its beauty and calm far from the roman chaos.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Dress code is smart casual
- Travelers with excessive sized bags will have certain problems, please note that small or large bags are not permitted inside the Borghese Gallery, and will need to be checked in at the cloakroom before the tour to be collected afterwards.
Reviews(1,210)
Our guide was friendly, knowledgeable, and even went back to find a guest who had gotten separated from the group. However, the experience didn’t match the advertised two-hour tour; it lasted only about an hour. There was very little history about the Borghese Gallery, Gardens, or the surrounding area, and we weren’t given any tips on what to explore afterward or how to navigate the site. If afternoon tours are shortened or certain areas are no longer accessible, that should be communicated in advance.
This was a fantastic tour, but it was pretty expensive, especially for the amount of time that we had in the gallery. I really would’ve enjoyed having more time to myself to be able to look at each of the paintings and other small items in each of the rooms. Instead, we really only covered major pieces in each room with our tour guide and had to move on. She was an absolute expert and answered so many questions for us, so no complaints about our tour guide (Virginia was outstanding and highly, highly educated in the fields of art and architecture). For the amount paid and the ground covered, this was hour-by-hour one of the most expensive tours I’d ever been on in Italy. Glad I got to do it, but anyone trying to keep their travel budget down should plan ahead and reserve the basic entry tickets well in advance.
Federico was a wonderful guide, with a perfect level of detail that made the visit rewarding without being overwhelming. Highly recommended!
Our family really enjoyed our gallery tour, however the 5:45 tour was very rushed due to the gallery’s closing time and we only had 1 hr 15 min. It would be nice if the tour had started at 5pm to allow the full 2 hours. We would recommend this activity; lots of stunning artwork and our tour guide provided valuable information about the best pieces.
Our guide Fredrico was fantastic! He was very passionate about the gallery and the works inside. His explanations were engaging and brought each piece to life. The gallery itself was small, but filled with such amazing pieces. It was a wonderful experience!
Informative tour of the priceless items in the house. The tour is only in the house, the gardens are on your own time.
The stairs and walkways at Tivoli are particularly challenging. Our guide was very thoughtful and made sure access to elevators.
The Vixtoria guide made all the difference. Has a lot of knowledge and passed everything with a lot of sympathy. The gallery is amazing and impermeable.
What an amazing place and tour! Our guides answered was very knowledgeable and provided just enough insight into the Baroque artists and their work! A must see in Rome!
OMG OMG we have been to Rome 4x and finally got in to see this. The statues by Bernini and paintings by Caravaggio are so incredible what an art collection. This is a must place to see. The grounds are beautiful a place to walk and enjoy the outdoor art. i tell everyone don’t miss going to this.
