Visiting Borghese Gallery? Valuable Tips For Touring This Artistic Treasure (4K)

There is no place in Rome that is more magical, more awe-inspiring than the Borghese Gallery. In this video, I'll introduce you to the Borghese Gallery and guide you on how to best experience this artistic treasure. The Borghese Gallery began as a 17th-century country villa for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, a nephew of Pope Paul V. The villa was built on a massive park. Today, this park spans almost 200 acres, the largest park in Rome. Cardinal Borghese devoted his great wealth to collecting and funding art and creating this amazing villa to showcase it. He was an early patron of Bernini and an avid collector of works by Caravaggio, and today the gallery features several creations by these masters, Raphael, Titian, and many others. In 1808, Prince Camillo Borghese, Napoleon's brother-in-law, was forced to sell the Borghese Roman sculptures and antiquities to Napoleon. Apparently, Napoleon wasn't happy that his sister Pauline, wife of Camillo Borghese, posed for a nude sculpture that is still on display in the gallery today. In 1902, the Italian government purchased the Borghese Villa and Park. What makes the Borghese Gallery so amazing is its sheer volume of art. Most art galleries are plain walls and lighting intended to focus attention on the pieces on display. At the Borghese, art is everywhere. Beyond the paintings, mosaics, and sculptures, the building itself is literally a masterpiece. The ceilings showcase incredible paintings, frescoes, sculptures, and architectural embellishments typical of the Baroque period. The walls and floors showcase brilliant colors, ornamental elements, and designs. It is a 360-degree full immersion in art. It can be literally overwhelming. There are other similar galleries in Rome, such as the Palazzo Colonna, but none of these, not even the Vatican Museum in my opinion, match the amazing Borghese Gallery. It is a sensory overload of artistic genius, a masterpiece of masterpieces. Now I've shown you a few scenes from the Borghese Gallery as I've been talking here, but if you're going to Rome, you really need to see a visual tour of the Borghese Gallery to get a true sense of what it offers. I've published a separate video to showcase many of the things you'll find there. It's only seven minutes long, no talking, and it features just some of the artwork and decor you'll find in this amazing facility. It's linked in the upper right corner now. For the rest of this video, I want to help you visit the Borghese Gallery. Here's some valuable information to help you get the most out of your trip to this remarkable gallery. First, let's talk about crowd sizes. The gallery strictly controls the number of people allowed in at any one time. So, while many who visit Rome don't even know about the Borghese Gallery, getting tickets at the last minute can be very difficult. Buy your tickets in advance. When placing your reservation, you will pick a date and a two-hour time slot for your visit. As I said, they control crowd sizes carefully. Be careful where you buy your tickets. Some people buy tickets in bulk and sell them for inflated prices. I will put a link to the official Borghese ticket website in the description below. This is the site I used. Incidentally, the official website for the Borghese Gallery is difficult to get to from the United States. It typically times out and won't display if you try to open it. The ticket website is a different story. I never had a problem getting it to open. Not only can you buy admission tickets, you can also buy guided tours, which are offered several times a day. We did the tour and found it to be very helpful. The facility is not very large, so a guided tour is comfortably paced and manageable. Again, we chose to get the tour directly from the official website listed in the description of this video. If you have time, you may consider doing what we did. We scheduled a two-hour tour and then scheduled the next two hours with the general admission ticket. This allowed us to learn more about the various pieces of art and then have time to wander the gallery and enjoy all the amazing art to our heart's content. Expect to check in everything that you're carrying. Backpacks, day bags, camera bags, even purses. They're very strict on this policy. If you need to carry things with you, wear clothing with large pockets that will hold what you need. The gallery covers two floors of the building. Most people climb a spiral staircase to get to the second floor. For people who have mobility issues, talk to a security person and ask to use their small elevator. As you walk through the gallery, it's easy to focus on the art pieces and ignore the rooms themselves. Before you leave each room, stop to devote a long look to the ceiling, walls, and floors. Absorbing these incredible interiors, that's almost a separate gallery experience. If you plan to take a taxi to the gallery, leave at least 20 to 25 minutes of commute time because the gallery is quite a distance from other tourist attractions. Remember, this was originally built as a country villa, outside the city walls, so it isn't anywhere near the city center. Also, taxis do not leave you at the front entrance to the gallery. You will probably be dropped off at a gated entrance to Borghese Park. From there, you will have to walk about 400 feet from the drop-off point to the gallery entrance. We didn't see a lot of restaurants in the surrounding area, so plan to dine before you go to the gallery or after you travel to your next tourist venue. Speaking of taxis, we did not see a taxi stand at the entrance to Borghese Park. Be smart and install the Free Now app on your phone and set it up in advance. FreeNow lets you order and pay for taxis from most anywhere in Rome. No trying to find a taxi stand, no worrying about having enough cash in your pocket, and the app is free. Let's talk about photography in the Borghese Gallery. Thankfully, photography and videography are allowed in this gallery. You can't use selfie sticks, tripods, or flash units, so if your camera has a built-in flash, make sure you know how to disable it before you go. Monique was able to use a gimbal with her cell phone, much to my surprise. Monique's iPhone 11 Pro did a remarkable job of capturing sharp images in low light. In fact, many of the pictures and videos shown in our Borghese slideshow were taken with the iPhone. The important thing is to practice with this camera before going to Rome. Find a local museum where you can walk around and do test shots. You need to know how to make adjustments for shooting in low light settings on the phone camera or else you won't be happy with what you shoot. Do you really want good quality video? Monique stabilized her iPhone video with the DJI Osmo Mobile Gimbal. This gimbal does a great job, but again, make sure you practice with it and understand how to use it before you go. I use the GoPro 11, and that has very good image stabilization built in. I use Catalyst Browse to stabilize video with my Sony EV10. As I said before, you can't carry a camera bag into the gallery, so everything you need, lenses, batteries, lens cleaner, etc., must go in your pockets. I carried a GoPro on a handle, a second lens, and extra batteries in my pockets. Just dress with clothes that have enough pockets to carry what you want. The rooms aren't terribly dark, but a fast lens is still really helpful. I had two lenses, an f1.8 and an f2.8 from my Sony EV10 camera, and there was enough light so I was able to use both lenses. Wide angle and regular lenses will meet all your needs. You probably won't need a longer lens. I hope this video will help you plan your trip to Borghese Gallery. On screen, you'll find the link to our playlist of Italy videos, including the Scenes from Borghese Gallery episode. Subscribe to our channel and you'll be notified when we publish again and please, your likes and comments help our channel grow.