Galleria Borghese launches guided tour of painted vaults

The Galleria Borghese in Rome has introduced a new guided tour called 'C'era una volta' (Once Upon a Time) to explore the history and details of its painted vaults. The initiative is free but requires booking. It highlights the decorative cycle of the vaults created by architect Antonio Asprucci and his team during the interior renovation of the villa, commissioned by Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese at the end of the 18th century. Asprucci collaborated with a renowned team of artists including Gavin Hamilton, Tommaso Conca, Mariano Rossi, and quadraturist Giovan Battista Marchetti. The goal was to create environments that would dialogue with the ancient and modern marbles in the collection, resulting in polychrome stucco marble coatings, French-style fireplaces adorned with precious materials, and architectural quadrature on the vaults animated by paintings whose subjects closely related to the central artwork in each room. The tour is offered alongside the current exhibition 'Il tocco di Pigmalione' featuring about 50 masterpieces by Peter Paul Rubens.