Onto Via XXIV Maggio and having the Palazzo del Quirinale, in front, on the right you will notice a anonymous portal. An entry apparently not worthy of being watched, but that hides behind an old casino  with a loggia, built at the behest of one of the most famous cardenal nepote (cardinals who, at the same time, where also pope's nephews): Scipione Borghese. Let's follow me in order to discover a pretty beauty of Rome, a city that can display you what happens when a good sponsor, important purposes and talented masters meet together. For a local tour guide like me that's simply amazing.

Scipione Borghese, at the beginning of the XVII century, commissioned the work to the architect Vasanzio, the man of confidence of the family. Since the XVI century exploded the fashion of the so called casini, small country houses with a porch used by the nobles to spend the day lazing around, admiring the extraordinary works of art with which they are filled, and inviting friends and other important personalities to weave amorous and political plots. Today this casino is named Casino Pallavicini, from the noble family which bought the entire complex from the Borghese one centuries ago. Nothing strange, because over the years the different noble families used to buy everything from other wealthy clans. Why? Mainly to disply their opulence... Moreover today the building is used partly as a convention and meeting center while, on the other side, it houses the Pallavicini Gallery, where we can admire the works by Brill, Carracci and Pietro da Cortona. Great masters of course, people who centuries ago contributed to make Rome more beautiful. 

But what really impresses in this stylish casino is the celebrated “Aurora” by Guido Reni. The fresco which gives its name to the whole loggia in which we can notice the delicacy of the stroke of the famous artist of the XVII century, who learned the secrets of painting in the bolognese school opened by Annibale Carracci. The light veils that wrap around the personifications of the Hours, and this beautiful Apollo driving the chariot of the Sun without any apparent effort, make lighter the structure of the fresco, giving us a strong sense of peace and wonder, typical of Reni's art. To complete the extraordinary ornamentation we find the Four Seasons by Paul Brill, an expert landscape gardener who was able to give a great sense of infinity in his landscapes, and the “Triumphs” by Antonio Tempesta, a painter active in Rome and who also worked for popes and noble families (here an example). In short, one of the little secrets of Rome that, if you do not know where to look, you could skip...