The Borghese family from Siena made the area on a hill north of the city center in 1541 to their residence. The most beautiful part of the park known as "Villa Borghese" is the Giardino del Lago with a pond and the Tempio di Esculapio (photo). In the largest park in the center of Rome, there is also the old residence Villa Borghese, which gave the park its name. At the southern edge of the park is the Villa Medici with garden. A little further north, the Terrazza del Pincio offers a wonderful view over the Piazza del Popolo.

Villa Borghese

The Vatican Gardens cover about half of the 0.44 square kilometers of the Vatican State. The area used to be a monastery garden before it was transformed into a recreation garden around 1485. The Vatican Gardens can be visited, but you need a ticket that can be booked on the Vatican Museums website.

Giardini Vaticani

According to legend, Romulus and Remus floated in a basket on the Tiber and landed here to found the city of Rome. The Tiber (Fiume Tevere) rises on Monte Fumaiolo in the Apennines, in the Emilia-Romagna region. The 400 km long river flows into the sea at Ostia and supplied the capital with goods from the entire Roman Empire via the port of Portus Romae. In Rome, the Tiber meanders through the city in great bends. Numerous beautiful bridges span the river, such as the Ponte Sant Angelo, which leads to the Castel Sant'Angelo (photo).

Ponte Sant Angelo

Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini received the property from his uncle, Pope Clement VIII. The architects della Porta, Maderno and Fontana transformed the property into a baroque garden with many water features in 1598. The Villa Aldobrandini

is located in Frascati. The town is about 20 kilometers southeast of Rome, north of Castel Gandolf.

Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati

The governor of Tivoli, Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, had this garden laid out in 1560. In order to realize his ideas, the area was completely redesigned. The architects Pirro Ligorio and Alberto Galvani created this masterpiece of architecture and garden art. The Villa d'Este is famous for its water features. The artful garden was built on a slope and the water ripples from one level to the next. Over 500 fountains make the Villa d'Este a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Neptune Fountain, the Water Organ, the Ovato Fountain and the "Alley of the Hundred Fountains" make the garden a magical place.

The city of Tivoli is about 30 kilometers east of Rome and can be reached by train. The place is on the border between the plain of Rome and the mountains rising behind the city.

Villa d'Este, Tivoli