Set back from the boundary wall of Villa Borghese, along Via Pinciana, is an original building known as the Grotta dei Vini or Loggia dei Vini. Specifically designed for banquets and parties, it was built by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, in the early 17th century in his villa “outside Porta Pinciana”. The ‘tinello de’ li gentil’ homini’ or gentlemen’s dining room, as it was called in 17th-century sources, stood in one of the twenty-three squares that disappeared from the so-called “Primo Recinto [First Enclosure]”, the area of the park laid out as a formal garden. It formed the scenic backdrop to one of the side avenues that intersected the main thoroughfare towards the Casino Nobile. A shady walkway led to the pavilion, located in the centre of a basin, connected by a double-ramp staircase to the garden level, bordered by high walls covered in an ivy “tapestry proportionate to the habitation of the God Bacchus”. The building saw two distinct construction phases. Under the direction of architect Flaminio Ponzio, first the grotto was excavated, intended for storing wine, connected to the kitchens of the cardinal’s villa by an underground passageway. The room, described as a “copious larder of nectars and ambrosias”, was completed by 1609. In 1612, the construction of the loggia began, an interesting piece of architecture with an oval plan, consisting of eight large arches on pillars, connected by a wide staircase to the grotto below. The loggia was completed in 1618 by architect Giovanni Vasanzio, who took over the building in 1613, after the death of Flaminio Ponzio. During the same period, the vaulted ceiling was frescoed with the Convito degli Dei [Banquet of the Gods] by the Roman painter Archita Ricci. Sources say that there were two Egyptian sphinxes placed on either side of the access ramp to the basin, a rustic fountain under the steps and eight large Peperino stone birds placed on the roof. Along the perimeter of the basin were two marble tables intended as a “sideboard and table for wine bottles”, while in the centre of the loggia was a large white marble table, on which recesses had been made, where water flowed to keep the drinks in the glasses cool. To further impress the diners, a mechanical device was mounted on the ceiling, which released a shower of perfumed petals over the guests at the end of the banquet.
2 M. Greuter, View of Villa Borghese (detail), 1623, engraving
3 J. Heinz, View of Villa Borghese, 1625, oil on canvas
4 E. Landesio, View of the pavilion of the Grotta dei vini (wine cave) in the garden of Villa Borghese, 1842, print
5 S. Donadoni, Grotto at “Villa Umberto” formerly Borghese, 1891-1911, watercolour on cardboard
6 Villa Borghese – Grotta dei Vini (Wine cave), 17th century
7 Villa Borghese – Grotta dei Vini (Wine cave), 17th century