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POPES AND NEPOTISM

Two are the available tours:

The Borghese Gallery

The Doria Pamphili Gallery

The fist tour consists of a 3hours visit to the Borghese Gallery: Previous booking for entrances (to be paid separately) is required at least a week in advance. The visit is held preferably in the afternoon from 2.30PM.

Rome, known worldwide as the center of the Papacy, has been for many centuries ruled by the Popes, who unified the spiritual power with the temporal power. The names of Pope Paul V Borghese (1552-1621) and Pope Innocent X Pamphili (1574-1655) are the most prominent among all; both were known for sharing their temporal power with family members and with their illegitimate children. This practice was called nepotism.

The first visit takes place in the Borghese Gallery, which is situated in the homonym park. Following a series of lands' expropriations outside the city walls, Pope Paul V, in the first decade of '600, assigned the Borghese Gallery to be a game reserve and a summer residence for himself and his family.

With the advent of Scipione Borghese, who was Paul V's nephew and collectors of art, sculptures and paintings, the Borghese Gallery became one of the most appreciated private museums of the time, until it's sale. Nowadays, the museum is the smallest and most complete museum in Rome.

Among the most important masterpieces present in the museum, should be mentioned sculptures by Bernini, Algaldi, Canova, and pictures by Leonardo da Vinci, Titian and Caravaggio.

The second tour includes the visit to the Doria Pamphili Gallery, residence of the homonym family, part of which, nowadays, is a museum situated in Piazza del Collegio Romano, at the corner of Via del Corso.

The visit is of 3 hours, booking for entrances (to be paid separately) is required and should be made at least a week in advance.

The actual construction is the result of the unification of two separate buildings: one part was acquired in origin by Panfilio Pamphili, Pope Innocent X's brother, the second structure is the legacy of the Aldobrandini family and it was brought as dowry by Olimpia, who married in her second marriage, Camillus Pamphili, the Pope's nephew.

Later on, Camillus enlarged the original structure by annexing it to the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata.

The structure was used by Pope Innocent X as a personal residence and a place for his personal audiences.

The Daria Pamphili Gallery is famous for the outstanding collections of pictures and sculptures from the '300 to '700: it comprises pictures by Caravaggio, the Bamboccianti, by Carracci and Duguet as well as masterpieces by Bernini and Algardi.