Rome, Italy — Museo Borghese

We were up early because we had tickets to Museo e Galleria Borghese at 11:10am. The Borghese is one of the top-listed sites in Rome. You need to book about a week in advance, which wasn't really clear in the guide books or any websites / blogs we had read. We only found out when we tried to buy tickets last week and had to get a guided tour ticket because the regular tickets were sold out.

It's about an hour walk from our hotel. Followed google maps the whole way which took us through the heart of the city but down streets we hadn't seen before. Picked up our tickets, and then had about 20 minutes to kill so checked out the gift shop.

Our tour started at exactly 11:10am. Most organized tours nowadays have a earphone for each participant so the guide doesn't have to yell and disturb other visitors. It's the first time I've used one, but that's because mostly we just explore on our own.

Our guide was really good. He knew his art, and explained what made a piece baroque or other styles. He also had a good sense of humour. There's some really expensive art at the Borghese for a relatively small museum. Plus, right now they have a temporary exhibit of Picasso juxtaposed with the permanent collection. From the museum's website:

The exhibition at the Galleria Borghese takes into account his experience of contact with Italian art to return to reflect on great themes related to painting and especially to sculpture from the Renaissance onwards.

The guided tour was 90 minutes and then we had 30 minutes to wander on our own. The Borghese museum was one of our highlights. If you're going to Rome, I'd recommend it, but book in advance!

Had lunch at the museum cafe which was pretty good, then wandered back home. Along the way stopped into some stores but with exchange rates it was cheaper just to buy stuff back home.

We had dinner at Taverna Trilussa. Our hotel manager booked it for us, and as usual for all his recommended places, he wrote down the name of the owner with which he was friends with, to make sure we were well received and not getting a tourist experience. Trilussa was probably the most upscale place we ate at over the two weeks. They had several kinds of prosciutto on the menu, so tried a 36 month aged for the appetizer. I would have liked it if there was the equivalent of a flight of prosciutto, so that I had something to compare. It did taste good, but how much better, I'm not sure. Split the bucatini all'amatriciana for the pasta (for Heather it was served in the pot it was cooked in, which I think is in fashion right now). Had the grilled lamb for our main which had really nice flavour. We were too full for dessert so just had an espresso. Overall a very good meal.