Vita Gazette

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The door to the secret garden has opened

Vita gazette – Secret Garden of the Herms reopened at Villa Borghese in Rome. In the enchanting setting of the Giardino delle Erme, the Exedra dei Draghi and the historic fountain have regained their ancient splendour.

The valorisation of Rome’s cultural heritage continues. This time, a monumental area of ​​the Baroque age in the heart of the Villa Borghese park returns to its original splendour: the Exedra of the Dragons and the Garden fountain, also known as the ‘IV Secret Garden’ of Villa Borghese.

Thus, a marvellous architectural space from the Baroque period is returned to the city. The Herme Garden is part of the seventeenth-century “Secret Gardens” complex, created to display rare and exotic flowers.

 The works also involved the monumental entrance portal of the garden: in the so-called Exedra dei Draghi, so named for the two dragons that were the heraldic symbol of the Borghese family, the seventeenth-century gate, the original plaster and paintwork were recovered and The rich decorative stucco apparatus was restored, consisting of the frames, the copies of the Roman herms added in the nineteenth century and the travertine spheres that embellish the attic.

The interventions have restored integrity and beauty to the original plaster and paintwork of the exedra, following the detailed results that emerged from the stratigraphic examinations. Even the imposing stucco decoration, with its string course frames, oval niches containing reproductions of Roman busts and travertine spheres that enrich the attic with two imposing heraldic bourgeois dragons, has been meticulously restored. Furthermore, the precious fountain in the centre of the garden, the result of a nineteenth-century assembly that combines a modern underground basin with an upper Renaissance basin of unknown origin, has been carefully cleaned, and its water system completely renewed, bringing it back to full functionality.

The works, lasting approximately four months, promoted by the Department of Culture and carried out under the scientific direction of the Capitoline Superintendence in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, were carried out thanks to a donation of services from the company Izi Spa, for a total amount of 100 thousand euros, in addition to works management and functional adaptation of the systems.

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