Borghese Gallery and Museum — Attraction in Rome

If you are interested in learning about art history, the gallery contains important works of the renaissance the baroque , but do spend time in the attractive main lobby (basement) to ask about interpretative tools - most works are not labeled. We walked in and walked back out again to get audio guides. We never did discover where the tours were coming from and where and when they started.

Some basic visitor functionality issues: -The lobby is attractive, but lacks in terms of conveying information to visitors. -The cafe needs to use some crowd control ropes to help form a line to the cash that does not block the entrance to the dinning room and post menus for people to consider while waiting in cash

The audio guides are an exercise in frustration. They don't identify the art work they are talking about after you punch in a number. Instead of some thing like: "Narrative for a large white marble sculpture of a man carrying another man followed by a small boy #21. This work by Bernini depicts a scene from the second book of Vergil's Aeneid, in which the hero Aeneas escapes from Troy with his father Anchises and his son Ascanius." Instead what you get is, "This work by Bernini depicts a scene from the second book of Vergil's Aeneid, in which the hero Aeneas escapes from Troy with his father Anchises and his son Ascanius." So you are walking around a large room with many visitors looking for clues as to what it is the audio guide is referring to, and as the narrative goes on you might get the clue you are looking for a statue or carving or painting. If you know Bernini was a sculptor that helps; my point however is that not everyone does and some of us could use some help with a description if we are limited in what we see. If it's the room's major work on display - it will be easy to spot, if it's a smaller work or perhaps a grouping of three paintings off to the side - good luck. The labels that do exist are difficult to sort out in terms of which have audio guide numbers and symbols, since the gallery uses their coat of arms at the end of the description cards that don't have an audio guide symbol with number - both logo and symbols look remarkably similar in the light font the gallery has chosen to use.

The great majority of the works on display are not labeled, the ones that have labels that are so small they present problems for the slightly visually impaired. (ie if you use reading glasses).

There are cards attached to the lanyard with the audio guide to help you sort out which numbers exist in which rooms, but it can be easy to not know which room you are in as the rooms are not numbered on the cards - even though the rooms themselves are physically numbered the gallery has not chosen to use these room ID numbers on their cards. Also the cards may have numbers corresponding that are no longer on display.

To top it off there are two sets of cards on your lanyard - one for the regular collection and one for the temporary collection. They are not obviously labelled, but stylistically look attractive.

Spending significant amounts of time trying to figure out what your audio guide is referring to is not my idea of focusing on a work and understanding it.

Most people are tourists simply soaking up the art and the breath-taking room decorations. I actually prefer some art narrative, some historical narrative....some understanding.

There is one final thing I want to point out, the life size and even larger than life size statues depict subjects such as rape, sexual assault and violence. I don't care how beautiful they are or if they are cannons of the art world, this should be pointed out to visitors ahead of time.

I invite the Borghese Gallery to reconsider their visitor experience from an accessibility point of view, a practical functional point of view and showing more respect for what visitors may choose to not visit for whatever their personal...

Go. Just go. This was absolutely stunning. Do a bit of research before you go, at least on the Bernini and Caravaggio works. I didn't know why this place isn't more well-known. I stumbled across it by accident a year before my short stay in Rome, and it was my one must-do

The building and rooms are, themselves, works of art. Ceilings are dramatically painted, floors are mosaics or like St Peter's Basilica with gorgeous colored marble. It's a wonder that the works of art can stand out from the works-of-art rooms that they sit in.

But they do. Most ppl come to see the Bernini sculptures, especially Apollo and Daphne plus Rape of Persephone. They do not disappoint. They still sit in the places they were originally installed when Borghese was a private house, and they were given placements that allow for the dramatic presence that they are.

The amazing talent and detail (Daphne's toes are sprouting roots, you can see fur on the paws of the 3-headed dog in Rape of Persephone) are all easy to see with good lighting and decent access - you can get pretty close to them

On practical topics, you can buy a ticket online for $15 or $20. Ignore the ads for people who can "guarantee you entry" or "walk you right to the front" for $39. These are almost scans

Almost all shows sell out. Therefore, if you don't have an advance ticket, you didn't get in. If you do have an advance ticket, you do get in. There is zero difference between your $15 ticket and their $39 ticket. They both equally "guarantee" your entrance

Your ticket gives you a timed entry and then two hours in the museum. This is plenty. I got there ten minutes after my entry time and walked right in - the crowd had already cleared and everyone was in. So even the guided tours didn't get any real advantage or special access that was worth more than 10 minutes. And even at ten minutes short, I easily had enough time to see everything the I wanted to see, even multiple times

The best thing is that the gallery limits numbers for each time slot, and there is a generally loose and uncrowded feeling throughout. You won't get Apollo and Daphne to yourself, but you'll be surprised at how tantalizingly close you can come . The only time that any room felt crowded was when a tour group was in it. The larger groups were actually a bit intrusive in the smaller rooms, consuming much of the room. If I had one slight criticism, it's that the gallery should limit the size of groups to fewer people than currently allowed.

Fortunately, there didn't seem to be many groups, they clearly tried to be respectful with low speaking voices or mic/earphones for larger groups, and they tended to move on quickly. There was little sense of any jostling or inability to enjoy art because of constant people in front of you

There are 72 stairs between floors. This is a challenge. I think there was an elevator but got the sense that use was limited and regulated - everyone had to take the stairs. If you can't walk 72 stairs, contact them ahead of time to see if there is anything you need to do to be eligible for the elevator

Finally, don't miss the cafe and gift shop. The cafe had pretty good food and was not crowded even at 12:15 - usually a lunch rush hour

5/5. At least. And that's for the building, the art, and the way it is all...

The museum was so beautiful and felt intimate since they limit the amount of people inside. Very quiet and you can find some rooms all to yourself letting you get up close to the artwork. Despite the odd loud tour guide 🙄.. it was a perfect experience!!!

I really wanted to go to this gallery but didn’t realize you had to book far in advance, and how sought after it was. luckily here is an alternative. If you too want to go but didn’t buy a ticket no need to go with the scalpers, they provide last minute tickets for those who didn’t buy online.

I will tell my experience to help those in a similar situation.

Ticket office opens at 8:30. Me and my father got there at 7:20 and we were the first, and waited at the entrance. At 7:44 two girls showed up. by 8:13 there was 8 people behind us. They only offer 13 tickets per time-slot.

(My father and I were buying for my mom and siblings, 6 total hence why we were so eager to get there. we heard the line can go blocks...😬)

By 8:27 they let us inside, everyone cheered very happy staff greeted us. Then we waited in a line till they called us up to write our names down. On the website it states you can only buy two tickets per person, but they allowed us to buy 6 even though the rest of the family was on there way. Also I don’t know how strict they are with the 13 people rule because I saw the girl that was in 14th spot get a ticket.

At 9:00 we had already gotten our tickets and where allowed to check in bags and go inside. 🙈🎉

By the time I got out 11:00 I didn’t see a crazy line but it must not be pleasant getting cut off and waiting for next time slot…

I recommend going in the morning I do not wake up early but the park was beautiful in the morning and the experience of getting the ticket was so euphoric, this whole day I’m still in aw. Also bonding with the people in line all laughs and smiles as we got our tickets. Truly beautiful experience.

I also was anxious about the 2 hours time limit..but when our time was up they just made an announcement I was scared they would point us out and make us leave but it was all a lot more relaxed then I anticipated. At this time only 2 floors were accessible some rooms closed doff. This gave us jussst about enough time to see everything though I did feel s slight pressure. Overall great experience and great staff!! So kind and friendly. I’m over the moon we got to see this...