A second art event in Rome, set in the splendid Villa Borghese, also known as the "Museum Park" for the incredible wealth of its art collections, particularly the Galleria Borghese.
Galleria Borghese, as reported on the museum's website, "Delight of Rome", houses and exhibits a vast collection of sculptures, bas-reliefs and ancient mosaics, as well as paintings and sculptures that cover a long period from the 15th to the 19th century. Among the masterpieces of the collection, whose first and most important nucleus dates back to the collection of Cardinal Scipione (1579-1633), nephew of Pope Paul V, there are works by Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian, Correggio, Antonello da Messina, Giovanni Bellini and the sculptures of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Canova.
The guided tours were organised thanks to the VAMI ROMA-ODV Association (Volunteers Associated with Italian Museums), which in particular operates from 2002, at the Borghese Gallery Museum in Rome and from 2025 also at the National Galleries – Palazzo Barberini Also in Rome. They promote museum education programs aimed at facilitating visitors' access and enjoyment of the museum and its artworks. Specifically, they organize free guided tours for individuals or small groups of visitors with cognitive, sensory, mental, and motor disabilities, and their companions.
During the visit, the educational staff's description of the works is enriched by narration and gestures, essential actions to arouse interest and curiosity.
In particular, our group at the Grottaferrata Training Center participated and chose two specific courses:
- “The Myths and the Baroque of Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- “The Masters of the Pinacoteca”
In our first meeting, we immersed ourselves in the sculptural masterpieces of Gian Lorenzo Bernini exhibited in the sculpture rooms of the Galleria Borghese, experiencing firsthand the legend represented by the extraordinary genius of the artist who symbolized the Baroque period in Italy.
In the second guided tour we retraced the main works of the Borghese Collection, in particular the paintings of the Pinacoteca, in an experiential tour along the paintings on display, including some works by Caravaggio.
On the occasion of this second guided tour, the VAMI volunteers, to whom we extend our thanks through the Association's President, Cristina Marchese, organized for us another detailed tour of the Apollo and Daphne sculptural complex.
The theme of the sculptural group is Ovid's fable taken from the Metamorphosis (I, 450-567), which tells the story of Apollo, who, as a result of Eros's vengeance, is struck by him with an arrow of gold—the noblest metal—which makes him fall in love with the nymph Daphne, a follower of Diana. The girl, however, pierced by a dart of vile lead, rejects the god's love and prays to her father Peneus, a river god, for help and to change her appearance from the form that had aroused so much passion. The work represents the culminating moment of Daphne's metamorphosis into a laurel tree. (Taken from: https://www.collezionegalleriaborghese.it/collezione/scultura)
Our interest in the famous sculptural group Apollo and Daphne by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and in particular towards the myth it represents, arises from the fact that this work has become the focus of an educational workshop we are developing during the current academic year. A path that we could symbolically title “Apollo and Daphne: From Myth to the Creation of a Short Film”.
The students were deeply impressed and fascinated by the myth of Apollo and Daphne narrated by Ovid after having admired the famous sculptural complex live during the first guided tour for schools to the Borghese Gallery in Rome, at Villa Borghese. The expressive intensity of the work, capable of making visible the moment of Daphne's metamorphosis, has aroused great curiosity and emotional involvement, stimulating reflections on classical myth, Baroque art, and the profound dialogue between word and image.
Precisely because of the strong emotional and cultural impact that this work had on the students, the myth of Apollo and Daphne It was chosen as the main theme of the interdisciplinary teaching laboratory of the entire training center for the year 2025/2026. The project involves approximately fifty students from the three classes and unites different disciplines in a common path, with the final goal of creating a short film in three episodes entitled “Apollo & Daphne's Story – Retelling”, a creative and contemporary reinterpretation of Ovid's tale.
The workshop is currently underway. After completing the script and casting, and assigning artistic and technical roles—from actors to directors of photography, sound, set design, hair and makeup, etc.—each student has assumed a specific role within the project. The group is now working on the preparation phase that precedes the audio and video recording, which will be followed by editing, to give concrete form to the short film.
