Exterior view
by VASANZIO, Giovanni, Photo
Under Pope Paul V there was an increasing tendency in Rome to use the former agricultural zone between city centre and Aurelian wall for villas and parks. Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Paul V, commissioned Flaminio Ponzio and then Giovanni Vasanzio the construction of Villa Borghese, which was built between 1613 and 1615. The countless niches, projections and recesses, sculptures and reliefs scattered across the building by the architects express more than anything else the formalism of the late Mannerists.
The picture shows the garden frontage of the building.