Along Via di Ripetta in the direction of the Ara Pacis and Piazza Augusto Imperatore, at a certain point on the right, you'll see a building that, perhaps, from this point of view does not seem to be as big as it actually is! Instead, you will face one of the prospects of the gigantic Borghese Palace, an historical residence of this noble family which came from the city of Siena. But the real surprise is ready to come...

Four centuries ago the Borghese family chose Rome as its adopted city. The huge architectural complex was decorated in many ways, externally and internally, but among the things that strike the more there is this strange and particular balcony that overlooks the Via di Ripetta. I talk about the so-called "Borghese Keyboard". It is a very special building, since it consists not of one but of two overlapping balconies! The first, always having closed shutters, has an elegant balustrade and columns in support, while the second balcony, which is smaller, has a balustrade and supported by load-bearing elements of the most finished and decorated. Finally, even if from the picture, maybe you see a little, note the tree on top of the whole structure, placed in the center of the second balcony. It is not a coincidence that the "Keyboard", also called the "Cembalo Borghese" (Borghese harpsichord), was made between the late ’500 and early ’600, when Camillo Borghese bought the XVI century palace restoring it. For this reason this majestic building became one of the Four Renaissance Wonders of Rome, along with the portal of the Palazzo Sciarra Colonna (Via del Corso, also called the "Gate of the Carboniani"), the Farnese Cube (the eponymous palace in the homonymous square) and the grand Staircase of the Palazzo Ruspoli (Largo Goldoni). Can you see how things can surprise you in Rome?