I had meant to conclude the second day of my visit to Rome with a visit to the Galleria Borghese and its marvellous arts collection but instead finished up at the zoo and what’s more almost spent the night there!
My way into Rome’s own version of Paris’ Bois de Boulogne, the Villa Borghese, was via the entrance past the church of the Santissima Trinità dei Monti at the top of the Spanish Steps and the Villa Medici, the place where the winners of the Prix de Rome stayed.
In music alone such famous names as Bizet and Debussy were prize-winners. (The prix was discontinued after the 1968 riots by the then culture minister Andre Malraux. Thank you very much Andre!)
The villa, a word which in Italian also means the grounds in which the villa is situated, is an enticing mixture of Italian formal avenues and English landscape paths.
The galleria is housed in the fine Villa Borghese Pinciana.
Galleria Borghese 
Flags of EU
, Italy and Rome
However, my hopes of visiting the collection were dashed as all tickets for that day had been sold and had to be pre-booked anyway. (Also covid protocol means that numbers of visitors are very limited).
I thought of going to the Villa Giulia with its marvellous Etruscan collection but never got there as I came across this portal designed by Armando Brasini.
Entrance to the Bio Park
It’s the entrance to what was once called ‘Giardini Zoologici’ but is now transformed into the ‘Bioparco’ of Rome. It’s the oldest zoological garden in Italy and currently houses over a thousand animals with over two hundred different species.
The Original Zoo
In 1994 the zoo began to be transformed into a bio park – a structure that conserves animals at risk of extinction, and carries out scientific research with greater respect for animal rights and with environmental education activities.
The New Bio Park 
Here are some of the fauna I saw. Spot the Komodo dragon, the meerkats, Rome’s emblematic wolves, anaconda, Bactrian camels penguins and more.
I was also able to observe Roman families enjoying themselves on an afternoon out in one of the city’s most attractive lungs – on a day which was increasingly and uncomfortably humid.
An announcement warned visitors that the zoo was closing but when I reached the exit it was already locked! I noticed some people outside that had managed to get out and shouted to them ‘Please let me out. I’m not a lion (although I’m born under the sign of Leo…)’. Fortunately I managed to escape via the bio park’s offices which were still open. Actually I wouldn’t have minded spending the night in Rome’s zoo and listen to the serenading of wolves and the squawking of peacocks…provided, of course, that I was not fed to the crocodiles for breakfast!
I returned to my pensione near Campo dei Fiori down the Rome’s own Park Lane, Via Veneto, lined with some of the city’s most luxurious hotels and full of cinematic memories
Rome’s bio park is clearly not the main reason why one would plan a visit to the eternal city. However, it is very well organized and laid out and proves that, in at least one respect, modern inhabitants of the city have evolved from the times when they would gleefully watch savage felines devouring christian martyrs or fighting with gladiators in the Colosseum.
Zoos seem somehow to be CRUEL places in which to house animals. But they serve a very important role in animal research as well as increasing a particlar species of which we are in dire need as recently there have been far too many reports of species reducing to dangerous levels and even of extinction. Certainly their habitats have vastly improved since zoos were created and are more akin to their own habitats in nature. These creatures seemed happy enough but quite frankly I do not understsnd the need to bring Komodo Dragons into zoos as London Zoo has also done they are really very dangerous and I wonder how they are handled in zoos! I do miss animals in Circuses we used ti do enjoy our Circus treat for Christmas but there are fewer if any. I posit the question then why have a dog or a cat or any pet and also make them do tricks which they do enjoy doing and also the majority of posts on FB are on ones pets antics so why be CRUEL and ban animals in Circuses? It is I suppose mans selfish intereference as usual as animals in Circuses made both happy human and animal species! Remember the title of my blogs “Be Kind and Merciful to all Animals!”