Upstairs - the picture gallery - is just as impressive, despite the modest decor. But that hardly matters when what you see is the Titian's 'Sacred and Profane Love', or Caravaggio's masterpieces (don't forget the St. Louis the French's church for more of these).

And, there's the beautifully Borghese Park around for you to relax and wander a little...

Here you can find Canova's nude sculpture of Pauline Bonaparte (yep, that's Napoleon's sister), as well as several excellent Caravaggio paintings (there‘s a particularly striking piece of David holding the head of Goliath). The real highlights, however, are the Bernini sculptures. In addition to a sculpture of David, one rumored to be an early forgery done by Bernini, and one of Scipione himself, three mythological sculptures - Apollo and Daphne, Aeneas Fleeing Troy, and The Rape of Proserpina - are pieces that Bernini finished in his early 20s. The sculptures are displayed so that admirers can get close to them and walk all the way around them, allowing vantage points to take in Bernini's attention to detail. The Rape of Proserpina ("rape" being used in the classical sense, meaning "abduction") is my particular favorite. Pluto's hand squeezes down on her thigh, making her skin puff up in between his fingers, a few tears stream down her face, her hand pulls back the skin around his eyes as she struggles to get away - all perfectly realistic, and all done in marble.

I've heard that you are supposed to call ahead to reserve tickets for the museum, but I went three times and never booked my tickets ahead of time, so I'm not sure how necessary reservations actually are. If you're going over the summer and have a limited schedule, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Your ticket will admit you for just two hours, with a half hour visit to the painting gallery included in that chunk of time. The gallery has some interesting pieces by Titian, Raphael, and Antonello di Messina, which can be worth a viewing. But if you're a big fan of Bernini or Caravaggio (his works are displayed in the main gallery), you might want to consider spending your two hours on them - it's just barely long enough.

While it may not possess the household-name status afforded the Colosseum, the Forum, or the Pantheon, the Galleria e Museo Borghese is an absolute must-see for any visitor to Rome. Reopened in 1997 after undergoing a meticulous 14-year restoration project that began in 1984, the Borghese’s incredibly ornate rooms house an impressive private collection of Italian art, with each gallery seemingly more stunning than the previous one despite the fact that much of the collection was sold to France in 1809 and moved to the Louvre. Advanced reservations are essential.

If you don’t know who Gian Lorenzo Bernini was, you’ll be enlightened by the time you leave the Museo Borghese. Several of Bernini’s most important sculptures are here, including David (the moment before he slays Goliath); The Abduction of Proserpina by Pluto; and my personal favorite, Apollo and Daphne, which is displayed beautifully in gallery with a painting of the same subject and depicts Daphne’s transformation into a tree as she flees the sun god Apollo.

Other notable sculptures in the collection include Antonio Canova’s Pauline Bonaparte, in which Napoleon’s sister poses as Venus.

Paintings include Titian’s masterpiece, Sacred and Profane Love and Caravaggio’s David With the Head of Goliath, in which Caravaggio painted his own self-portrait to represent the slain Goliath. Interestingly, Caravaggio fled Rome after having been accused of murder in 1606, and this painting (1609-1610) was presented to the papal court as a sort of a painted request for pardon.

The museum has some stringent rules: a maximum of 300 visitors at a time are allowed on the first floor, and no more than 90 are allowed on the second floor. In addition, no cameras, bags, or purses of any kind are allowed inside the museum. Ladies, this means don’t even attempt entering with your purse in tow. It’s not going to work. You’ll be directed back to the coat room, and you’ll find yourself relegated to the end of the line.

This is one of the most amazing museums I have ever seen. Even non-art lovers will come away impressed with its dazzling collection, and the spacious park that surrounds it offers big, shady trees and pleasant walking paths.

Additional Information:
Metro: Spagna (Line A)
Bookings and reservations: Tel.: 39.06.32810, or click here for online reservations.

You need to either make reservations in advance, for a two-hour window, or wait in a very long line to get tickets that are not claimed. Since we all had reservations had no problem getting in quickly. We waited in a moderately long line for less than 10 minutes to get our tickets, prior to the entrance time checked our big bags (mostly my backpack and Mark's camera bag) and entered.

We started upstairs, seeing rooms full of art, from the ceiling frescoes to the statuary, to the paintings on the walls. It was awesome. Since we could not take pictures, we bought a book and some postcards to make up the gap. Highlights of the visit were the Bernini sculptures, including Apollo and Daphne, which captures the moment when Daphne, to escape rape by Apollo, turns into a tree. It is really very beautiful, very emotional, very baroque.