At the huge public park that surrounds the Villa Borghese we find the historic Pines of Rome, inspiration for the first section of the 1924 symphonic poems by Respighi.
Speaking of Scipione Borghese and his Villa, “his education was paid for by his maternal uncle Camillo Borghese. Upon Camillo’s election to the papacy as Pope Paul V in 1605, he quickly conferred a cardinalship on Scipione and gave him the right to use the Borghese name and coat of arms.
“In the classic pattern of papal nepotism, Cardinal Borghese wielded enormous power as the Pope’s secretary and effective head of the Vatican government. On his own and the Pope’s behalf he amassed an enormous fortune through papal fees and taxes, and acquired vast land holdings for the Borghese family” and an enormous and idiosyncratic art collection.