A short walk away from us is Villa Medici, surrounded by the Villa Borghese gardens. Built by Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, it was intended to be a statement of the Medici presence in Rome.  Today housing the French Academy of Rome, it’s a massive building in the front …

Pause to admire the lovely fountain in front of the Villa:

You may recognize the fountain from the painting by Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, painted between 1825 and 1828:

The cannonball at the center harkens back to a myth about Queen Christina of Sweden, an eccentric queen who gave up her throne, converted to Catholicism, and moved to Rome.  Now let’s go in though the massive front doors, which also are linked to the Queen Christina story:

 

Inside, there is usually a modern art exhibit or two going on.

Tours take you up a marvelous spiral stairway …

…into a few lovely restored rooms, which have paintings that reveal that perhaps the various cardinals who lived in Villa Medici over the years were not  immune to the charms of lovely ladies.

Then you sweep outside to the back of the Villa, where the real beauty lies …

 

During the construction of the villa, many antiquities were “appropriated” from nearby archaeological sites, the bits and pieces incorporated into the ornate facade of the back of the villa.

 

 

Beyond lie beautiful gardens …

 

 

Perfect for strolling …

 

 

But’s there’s even more to see, as we’ll see in our next blog post!