Gallery director stresses that the call for expansion proposals is at a very early stage, no location has been chosen, and that the masterpieces currently on display will not be relocated.Rome's Galleria Borghese has moved to reassure critics and clarify the scope of its ambitions following a heated public debate over plans to expand the celebrated museum with a new building near the 17th-century villa.The museum is launching an international architecture competition to explore the feasibility of expanding its facilities – a move that has sparked controversy even before a single design has been produced. Galleria Borghese director Francesca Cappelletti hosted a press conference on Monday to outline its plans, clarify misconceptions, and explain the fully transparent process leading to any future expansion. Background Last November the museum published a call for technical sponsorship to commission a feasibility study for a new structure near the museum, intended to increase visitor capacity and accessibility as well as creating additional exhibition and conference spaces. Proger, a Pescara-based engineering and architecture firm, was awarded the contract and pledged to cover the estimated costs of around €900,000 in exchange for promotional visibility within the museum. Access Visitor access to the gallery is limited to 360 people at a time, for a maximum of two hours per session, and in 2025 more than 630,000 visitors filed through its halls. Demand far outstrips supply: the "last minute" queue for same-day tickets allows entry to only a handful of people every two hours. As Cappelletti observed on Monday, if one were to try to buy a ticket today, it would be impossible to find one for the coming month. The situation has given rise to a secondary market offered by ticket touts: an online search for "skip-the-queue” tickets will return results with exorbitant prices. The museum – home to masterpieces by Bernini, Caravaggio and Raphael – holds around 200 works in storage that are never seen by the public, and access for people with disabilities is severely limited. Competition The international ideas competition will proceed in two phases: an open preselection stage inviting architecture and engineering firms to apply, followed by the selection of five shortlisted candidates who will be invited to submit full proposals anonymously, via a certified platform of the Rome Order of Architects. An independent jury of internationally recognised experts will judge the entries. The competition is being funded entirely by Proger SpA which will cover project management, the feasibility study, and prize money for the runners-up. The company's CEO, Marco Lombardi, said he hoped a winner would be announced by the end of the year.The idea originated, as Lombardi explained at the press conference, after Francesco Rutelli – the centre-left former mayor of Rome and former Italian culture minister, who heads Proger's Art & Culture division – told him that American friends had been unable to obtain tickets and had ended up resorting to touts. Proger subsequently approached the gallery director to offer assistance, and proposed sponsoring the drafting of an expansion feasibility study. Key clarifications from press conference At Monday's event, Cappelletti was at pains to correct what she described as a “premature” and "distorted" public debate. "There is currently no project, nor has any area been chosen," she said. She stressed that the gallery's focus is "on people, not on ticket numbers," and that the impetus for the exercise is accessibility and inclusion rather than an indiscriminate increase in visitor throughput. She said she welcomed debate but was taken aback by the controversy, including the “absurd” suggestions that the gallery would build an extension in its garden. She also stressed, repeatedly, that the museum’s existing layout would remain unchanged and that the artworks would remain in their current locations. [caption id="attachment_77432" align="aligncenter"]Galleria Borghese director Francesca Cappelletti addressing journalists on Monday.[/caption] Proger confirmed that the feasibility plan will be given for free to the gallery, the culture ministry and Rome city council, who will then decide whether to proceed. Rutelli referred to his recent article in La Repubblica, hailing the plan as “a gift”, and saying that if the public authorities dislike what they are presented with, they simply say no and nothing happens. He also cited the V&A expansion in London, asking pointedly: “Who can be afraid of ideas?” Galleria Borghese falls under the remit of Italy’s culture ministry, while the surrounding Villa Borghese park is municipal property, meaning that Rome city council holds a decisive role in any future approval of an expansion. “At present, there is no defined project or approved intervention proposal”, the gallery’s official statement reads. “The Galleria Borghese considers the relationship between architecture, collection, gardens, and landscape to be a fundamental and inseparable element of its cultural identity”, the statement reads, emphasising that “any future considerations can only be developed in strict compliance with conservation regulations and through a transparent, shared, and carefully considered process.” Cappelletti pushed back against suggestions that the project was conceived without ministerial knowledge. Rutelli confirmed he had spoken with culture minister Alessandro Giuli about the matter. Rome's city council, represented at the press conference by Svetlana Celli, president of the capitoline assembly, has given its initial backing to the project. Three councillors - Sabrina Alfonsi (environment), Massimiliano Smeriglio (culture) and Maurizio Veloccia (urban planning) - signed a memorandum formally recognising the initiative's public interest through a resolution passed by the city on 5 May. Controversy The announcement has nonetheless attracted sharp opposition from several quarters in recent days. Heritage bodies Italia Nostra Roma and the Bianchi Bandinelli Association have expressed firm opposition, warning that constructing a new building alongside the historic villa risks irreparably disrupting a context that has remained virtually unchanged for more than four centuries. Art historian Tomaso Montanari compared the prospect of erecting a new building beside the gallery to adding an extension to Brunelleschi's dome in Florence, arguing that the villa and its grounds have reached such a state of perfection that any alteration can only cause harm. Artribune editor Massimiliano Tonelli defended the plan, noting that what is under discussion is not a construction project but an ideas competition leading to a feasibility study, and that the precise form any future building might take – underground, semi-subterranean, permanent or temporary – remains entirely unknown. He argued that the outcry was disproportionate and reflected a form of hyper-conservatism that rarely serves the heritage it claims to protect, accusing critics of wanting to keep Rome "immobile and embalmed." Political row Fabio Rampelli, a member of prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Fratelli d'Italia party and vice-president of the chamber of deputies, called last week for Cappelletti's resignation, claiming that she had taken it upon herself to initiate an expansion project damaging to Villa Borghese without, he alleged, consulting the culture minister (a claim contradicted by statements made during the press conference). Federico Mollicone, also a member of Fratelli d’Italia and chairman of the parliamentary culture committee, has said he is in principle opposed to a new building but is interested in the possible use of the nearby Villino Pincherle – a historic but currently derelict property on the edge of Villa Borghese. For now, however, the expansion proposal remains merely a call for ideas. The tender for the competition is set to be published in the coming days, with an architectural plan expected by the end of this year. Photos Wanted in Rome, 18 May 2026.

Rome's Galleria Borghese has moved to reassure critics and clarify the scope of its ambitions following a heated public debate over plans to expand the celebrated museum with a new building near the 17th-century villa. The museum is launching an international architecture competition to explore the feasibility of expanding its facilities – a move that has sparked controversy even before a single design has been produced. Galleria Borghese director Francesca Cappelletti hosted a press conference on Monday to outline its plans, clarify misconceptions, and explain the fully transparent process leading to any future expansion. Last November the museum published a call for technical sponsorship to commission a feasibility study for a new structure near the museum, intended to increase visitor capacity and accessibility as well as creating additional exhibition and conference spaces. Proger, a Pescara-based engineering and architecture firm, was awarded the contract and pledged to cover the estimated costs of around €900,000 in exchange for promotional visibility within the museum. Visitor access to the gallery is limited to 360 people at a time, for a maximum of two hours per session, and in 2025 more than 630,000 visitors filed through its halls. Demand far outstrips supply: the "last minute" queue for same-day tickets allows entry to only a handful of people every two hours. As Cappelletti observed on Monday, if one were to try to buy a ticket today, it would be impossible to find one for the coming month. The situation has given rise to a secondary market offered by ticket touts: an online search for "skip-the-queue” tickets will return results with exorbitant prices. The museum – home to masterpieces by Bernini, Caravaggio and Raphael – holds around 200 works in storage that are never seen by the public, and access for people with disabilities is severely limited. The international ideas competition will proceed in two phases: an open preselection stage inviting architecture and engineering firms to apply, followed by the selection of five shortlisted candidates who will be invited to submit full proposals anonymously, via a certified platform of the Rome Order of Architects. An independent jury of internationally recognised experts will judge the entries. The competition is being funded entirely by Proger SpA which will cover project management, the feasibility study, and prize money for the runners-up. The company's CEO, Marco Lombardi, said he hoped a winner would be announced by the end of the year.

The idea originated, as Lombardi explained at the press conference, after Francesco Rutelli – the centre-left former mayor of Rome and former Italian culture minister, who heads Proger's Art & Culture division – told him that American friends had been unable to obtain tickets and had ended up resorting to touts. Proger subsequently approached the gallery director to offer assistance, and proposed sponsoring the drafting of an expansion feasibility study. At Monday's event, Cappelletti was at pains to correct what she described as a “premature” and "distorted" public debate. "There is currently no project, nor has any area been chosen," she said. She stressed that the gallery's focus is "on people, not on ticket numbers," and that the impetus for the exercise is accessibility and inclusion rather than an indiscriminate increase in visitor throughput. She said she welcomed debate but was taken aback by the controversy, including the “absurd” suggestions that the gallery would build an extension in its garden. She also stressed, repeatedly, that the museum’s existing layout would remain unchanged and that the artworks would remain in their current locations. [caption id="attachment_77432" align="aligncenter"]Galleria Borghese director Francesca Cappelletti addressing journalists on Monday.[/caption]
Proger confirmed that the feasibility plan will be given for free to the gallery, the culture ministry and Rome city council, who will then decide whether to proceed. Rutelli referred to his recent article in La Repubblica, hailing the plan as “a gift”, and saying that if the public authorities dislike what they are presented with, they simply say no and nothing happens. He also cited the V&A expansion in London, asking pointedly: “Who can be afraid of ideas?” Galleria Borghese falls under the remit of Italy’s culture ministry, while the surrounding Villa Borghese park is municipal property, meaning that Rome city council holds a decisive role in any future approval of an expansion. “At present, there is no defined project or approved intervention proposal”, the gallery’s official statement reads. “The Galleria Borghese considers the relationship between architecture, collection, gardens, and landscape to be a fundamental and inseparable element of its cultural identity”, the statement reads, emphasising that “any future considerations can only be developed in strict compliance with conservation regulations and through a transparent, shared, and carefully considered process.” Cappelletti pushed back against suggestions that the project was conceived without ministerial knowledge. Rutelli confirmed he had spoken with culture minister Alessandro Giuli about the matter. Rome's city council, represented at the press conference by Svetlana Celli, president of the capitoline assembly, has given its initial backing to the project. Three councillors - Sabrina Alfonsi (environment), Massimiliano Smeriglio (culture) and Maurizio Veloccia (urban planning) - signed a memorandum formally recognising the initiative's public interest through a resolution passed by the city on 5 May. The announcement has nonetheless attracted sharp opposition from several quarters in recent days. Heritage bodies Italia Nostra Roma and the Bianchi Bandinelli Association have expressed firm opposition, warning that constructing a new building alongside the historic villa risks irreparably disrupting a context that has remained virtually unchanged for more than four centuries. Art historian Tomaso Montanari compared the prospect of erecting a new building beside the gallery to adding an extension to Brunelleschi's dome in Florence, arguing that the villa and its grounds have reached such a state of perfection that any alteration can only cause harm. Artribune editor Massimiliano Tonelli defended the plan, noting that what is under discussion is not a construction project but an ideas competition leading to a feasibility study, and that the precise form any future building might take – underground, semi-subterranean, permanent or temporary – remains entirely unknown. He argued that the outcry was disproportionate and reflected a form of hyper-conservatism that rarely serves the heritage it claims to protect, accusing critics of wanting to keep Rome "immobile and embalmed." Fabio Rampelli, a member of prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Fratelli d'Italia party and vice-president of the chamber of deputies, called last week for Cappelletti's resignation, claiming that she had taken it upon herself to initiate an expansion project damaging to Villa Borghese without, he alleged, consulting the culture minister (a claim contradicted by statements made during the press conference). Federico Mollicone, also a member of Fratelli d’Italia and chairman of the parliamentary culture committee, has said he is in principle opposed to a new building but is interested in the possible use of the nearby Villino Pincherle – a historic but currently derelict property on the edge of Villa Borghese. For now, however, the expansion proposal remains merely a call for ideas. The tender for the competition is set to be published in the coming days, with an architectural plan expected by the end of this year. Photos Wanted in Rome, 18 May 2026.