Villa Borghese and Gardens

Sundays in Italy are normally when shops close as this is a Roman Catholic country and Sunday is the day of rest. So I decided to spend some time at the Gardens of Villa Borghese. The gardens are so large. It feels like a city in its own right and it is located right smack in the middle of the city of Rome.

There were lots of local families spending time with their children, there were also lots of tourists. It was a very peaceful place to be. There were buskers playing classical music, soft modern music and the ambience of the gardens was surprisingly heightened by the musical accompaniment as I strolled through the gardens. There were bicycles available to rent, roller skates for rent, four wheel cycles were very popular too.

I have no idea how far I walked but it was for a few hours and I finally got to the Villa Borghese. This villa houses the private art collection formerly of the Borghese family. Tickets have to be purchased in advance. I did think about purchasing it beforehand when I was in Sydney but I decided against it as I wasn't sure if I had enough time to do other things.

The entrance of the museum

A section of the private garden (taken through fences)

The other entrance of the villa 

By the way, both the gardens and the villa were handed over to the state in 1902. I walked around the villa and managed to get some pictures of their private garden.

What a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning/afternoon!