The Great Italy Adventure of 2019 - Rome

Join us for a 20-hour road trip from Rome to Milan with awesome stops in between! First stop, Hotel Lord Byron in Rome, and a visit to the Borghese gardens and museum. The hotel is one of my favorites in Rome - it is close enough to trek to the center of Rome, and yet perched on a hill, in the beautiful neighboring Borghese Villa and Gardens. It's less expensive than staying in downtown Rome, and my favorite question they ask when you book a room is, "Madam, may I offer a car to pick you up at the airport?" Why, yes you may!

We had only one full day in Rome, and decided to visit the Galleria Borghese.

I purchased two tickets in advance which was really smart. It included a guided tour which was two hours of perfection. Our guide highlighted the best artists in the museum. Above is a marble sculpture by Canova that was commissioned by Camillo Borghese, the husband of Pauline Bonaparte, featured here. It was highly unconventional for a woman of such rank and social importance to be depicted nude, but Pauline was not conventional in any sense. The most amazing part of the sculpture was she seemed to be reclining on a very soft feather bed. How do you make marble look so soft? Hers’s another impressive sculpture we saw  by Bernini showing the softness of flesh. Mind boggling.

Here’s a close up of the backside of this sculpture:

The story of this sculpture was anything but soft - entitled the Rape of Prosperina - depicting Prosperina being abducted by the god Pluto and taken to the underworld. Does this look like marble or flesh? My mind was blown.

The next morning we rented a 5-speed Lancia and headed to Tuscany.