The villas of Rome: a crown of delights

Historic gardens were not only symbols of power, culture and elegance, but also propaganda tools for the popes, princes and cardinals who owned them. This exhibition retraces their history up to their transformation into public parks ‘for the pleasure of the people’.

The 190 works presented, including landscape paintings – most of which have never before been exhibited – offer visitors an original insight into villas and gardens that have since disappeared or been totally redeveloped. Exhibited works bear witness to the popularity of Rome’s gardens in the collective imagination, and of their use as sumptuous backdrops for celebrations and demonstrations of power.