If I were forced to name my favorite museum in Rome, I would say without hesitation: the Galleria Borghese! It is unbelievably rich in artwork including knock-your-socks-off Baroque masterworks of painting and sculpture; is small enough to actually see pretty much everything on one visit (though I recommend many visits, as often as you can, as many times as you can!); and the location is supreme!

Here it is on a recent Sunday evening. The Galleria was closed, but the park and gardens surrounding it were open to enjoy freely and believe me, I did just that!

And yet, for all its glory, the Galleria is not the only thing to behold! The immediate grounds that surround the fabulous building are very attractive and I am featuring them here today from my recent walk.

I hope you can hear the crunch of the gravel as I walk around the landscape! It’s a sound I love!

I highly recommend spending as much time as you can at this remarkable place, both inside the Galleria and outside! You will come away much richer in experience if you can get there!

American country-western line dancing on the street in my borgo was high on the list! And yet: behold!

He was a lot of trouble! Living with him was like living in an Italian opera! But, he was a fabulous cook and I look back with some fondness!

The almost brand-new subway stop in Rome for the Colosseo is every bit as sophisticated as the most current art museum!

The videos I am showing you are not half of the value of the explanations of the discoveries made during the building of this new subway stop!

But it is a start at demonstrating the excellence of the content and format for the delivery of fascinating information, much of it based on discoveries made during the building of the underground train system.

At the top of the beautiful Spanish Steps sits this lovely church. I don’t think I’ve ever been inside it! But it offers splendid views of the city. The obelisk that sits in its piazza was found in the Horti Sallustiani, about which I have recently posted. See: The ancient gardens of Sallust.

I have always relished that fact that in Italy, if there is a place to gather, there will be a small bar or at least a kiosk or food truck with some kind of refreshment available.

And in this beautiful park, the Villa Borghese, this little cafe was a darling sight to behold. I love the bright red striped umbrellas and the metal structure and hanging lights. This is what Italy is to me. Comfort, delight, always available.

Designed by painter-architect Federico Zuccari, the Palazzo Zuccari in Rome has as its entrance a gaping stone mouth—an example of late-Renaissance fascination with the grotesque, illusion, and theatrical façades. Built near the Spanish Steps, the house was conceived as a personal statement where architecture performs as art.

Today, this once-provocative portal is part of the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max Planck Institute for Art History), giving Rome’s most playful doorway an unexpectedly scholarly afterlife.

I’m took these photos on a recent evening in Roma.

Even the windows are human shaped. At night they are most effective!

I am and always have been in love with this doorway!

Trying so hard to capture the cupola in the twilight.

Alla prossima! I’ll keep trying until I get it right!

Deep within the Villa Borghese park lies a sunken oval field, called the Galoppatoio, historically linking the villa to equestrian activities.

Currently underway: THE GREEN PROJECT: NINE YEARS OF GREAT SPORT, RESTORATION AND BIODIVERSITY

In 2017, in the wake of a new and revolutionary concept, the “Piazza di Siena Green Project” was launched, a sporting event model which found its natural home in the Piazza di Siena Horse Show.

It was a zero-impact bio-architectural project, marking a complete and definitive break with the past, through the use of eco-sustainable materials and an overall vision designed to create a show reminiscent of the competitions of the early 20th century.

The silica sand on the historic oval-shaped arena was removed and the grass turf restored, and, in line with the original design and construction plan, Sport e Salute, the project organiser alongside FISE (Italian Equestrian Sports Federation), signed an agreement with Roma Capitale for the maintenance and upkeep of the Piazza di Siena area throughout the year.

THE HISTORY OF THE CSIO Roma Piazza di Siena, the internationally renowned equestrian event

First let’s talk about the Piazza di Siena itself within Villa Borghese. This Piazza area takes its name from the city of Siena, from which the Roman noble family, the Borghese, came. At the end of 16th century, Prince Marcantonio Borghese commissioned architects Mario and Antonio Asprucci to create a new location within the park, one able to remind him of the places he loved most. He wished, in fact, to bring to the city of Rome the traditional popular equestrian celebrations that had been enjoyed since the Middle Ages in Tuscany. Think of the Palio in Siena. Unfortunately Prince Marcantonio died before it was completed.

Piazza di Siena’s debut in equestrian events started in 1922, but it was only in 1926 that the International Equestrian Federation included the Roman competition in the international calendar and the official listing of the Rome CSIO began. After three editions held at a different location, in 1929 the horse show returned in Piazza di Siena. Some of the most important events in the history of Italian equestrian sports took place in this public park, considered the largest and more elegant among Rome’s: unforgettable shows, with extraordinary leading riders such as Bettoni, D’Inzeo and Graziano Mancinelli as well as other standard bearers of this noble sport.

This was a fun discovery to make, even if we missed the horse show itself. But, for me, I didn’t mind. I’ve been to more horse show events in my lifetime already!