Borghese Gallery and Gardens, Ending on the Pincio

The Borghese caps the number of people inside and sells entry in fixed slots, which is why it is the one great collection in Rome that is never crowded. The same system is what makes booking it awkward on your own. Inside, the works are still where Cardinal Scipione Borghese wanted them. He commissioned the villa and much of what hangs and stands in it, and he pursued the rest with a determination that in at least one case involved a night theft. Bernini's Apollo and Daphne, Canova's Pauline Bonaparte, Caravaggio's Saint Jerome and Raphael's Deposition are all on the route, in the rooms they were installed in. The guide is an English-speaking specialist on the collection, and the group uses audio headsets, which matters in rooms with hard marble surfaces and a two-hour turnover. Afterwards the walk continues into the Borghese Gardens, once the cardinal's private park, and ends at the Pincio terrace above Piazza del Popolo. That is a good place to be left: the square and the metro are five minutes away. Be aware that reaching them means going down a long flight of steps.