Galleria Borghese, 2018

Somehow we always seem to save the Galleria Borghese for last or almost last. Always want to leave on a high, fire on the up-roll....

Walking from Termini to our bus stop..."And in English too..." Shouldn't this
be "balcia e cavalca"? or at least "Kiss-o e ride-o"?

In the old Alberto Sordi shopping mall, at a bookstore,
looking for a book; turns out the best selection is at the big
bookstore in Termini

Pines of the Villa Borghese; love the old Toscanini version

The Galleria Borghese; always over-run

You can breeze through much of the 16th-17th century
Italian painting; either not that great or so poorly displayed, 
like this Cranach, as to be un-viewable

Nice Botticelli, Venus with Cupid and Psyche; wait, no...

The real draw is all the Berninis, of which nearly all are KOs

The walls and ceilings and floors are pretty amazing in their own right

Aeneas and his dad, escaping Troy

Bernini, Truth

Also more Caravaggios than any other location

A way better St. Jerome than the one we didn't see in Malta

And this fairly incredible St. John (I triple dog swear I am
not making this up)

St. John with fruit

The illusionary stuff alone is worth the price of admission

A great hall filled with sculpture and Roman mosaics 

Scenes from the gladiatorial school 

Must watch A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum again

Canova's Venus, actually Napoleon's sis, Pauline Bonaparte

I think Bernini was the best of sculptors, despite being
Baroque all the time; but his David does not compare
favorably with either Donatello's or you know who's

The best of the best, Bernini's Apollo and Daphne

As you entered the room, originally, this is what you saw
initially...no hint of what was going on

Ceiling painting above the statue

As I said, the place is worth visiting just for the illusionary stuff

Everything you see here, as they say, is paint

"Golden rules of civility..." how we miss them...