Borghese tour and Caravaggio sites

Two churches in Rome "with Caravaggio as the emphasis", and paying for a private guide "with Caravaggio as the emphasis. Now you have me curious: which churches are those? * * * ¶ I think I remember about 3 or 4 Caravaggios out on display at the Borghese when I was there. I googled a Caravaggio site that seems to say the Borghese has a total of 6, but I think they're sometimes not all out at one time: on loan, being curated or restored, or whatever they do with art when it's not on public display. At the Borghese there are a couple of guided tours in English, the 2008 price was about 5E. And the audioguide is about the same price. The guided tours and audioguide don't focus on Caravaggio, but if there are only 3 Caravaggios in the museum.... * * * ¶ I'm curious which two churches?

There are 6 Caravaggio paintings in the Borghese gallery: sick Bacchus, boy with a basket of fruit, David & golliath, John the baptist, st. Jerome, and the palafranieri Madonna. The other churches that have Carvaggio paintings are, and these are free: Santa Maria del popolo - 2, conversion of Paul, martyrdom of peter San Luigi dei francesi - 3, matthew cycle Sant'agostino: 1, Madonna of the pilgrims Dont forget the Caravaggio in the Vatican (entombment). There are also two paintings in the Galleria Barberini, narcissus and the awesome Judith and Holofernes, as well as another John the baptist in galleria corsini in trastevere. Off the top of my head, that's all. Privately you can also visit the ceiling paintings in a villa on via veneto, but they're tough to book and not that great anyway. I know Jason Spiehler's company Walks of Italy does Borghese gallery tours on his website and also offers a Caravaggio & Baroque tour upon request. www.walksofitaly.com or email at [email protected]

Steve: Well, that's impressive for off the top of your head. I had to cheat and google. Where I was going with my 1st post was: Phil the OP has asked if it's worth it. Part of whether it's worth it is 1) how much for the private guide and 2) since the "emphasis is Caravaggio", about how many Caravaggios do you get to see on the private guide tour. We've already established that there are about 6 at the Borghese, and I'm guessing not all are out at any one time (but I might be wrong on that). The OP hasn't yet mentioned the 2 churches, but no church in Rome appears to have more than 2 or 3 Caravaggios. * * * Maybe the OP will give us more to go on.

Guess i was addressing Kents post rather than Phils. I'm a bit of a Caravaggio fanatic, studied caravaggio, and living downtown in Rome helps ;-) And as for whether a guide will be worth it, well that of course depends on the guide, and if yours is listed in Rick Steves' then you're off to a good start. A good guide will generally run around 50 per hour for a private tour, and your itinerary will run you 3-3.5 hours. My guess is you'll do Borghese gallery and san Luigi and sant'agostino, since they're near each other. however, transit to SM del Popolo is easy and the paintings there are much more rewarding than sant'agostino (but agostino gives you domenichino & Raphael bonuses!). So for Caravaggio, insist on popolo. If you don't come away from the tour with a commanding understanding of wild life story, his unique painting style, why it was important, etc then the tour wasn't worth it. I think you will enjoy the tour very much.

Thanks so much for the replies. The guide did not give me the names of the churches. The tour is to be 3.5 to 4 hours and 220 euros. The guide has gotten some good feedback and I think is reputable. I am reluctant to post a name right now because I felt that I may cancel based on feedback from here, but most likely will give it a try. I think just being able to talk with someone about the artist, Rome in general etc. will be worth it. I am traveling alone and other than the Vatican tour ticket will be using the podcasts for the rest of the trip.

The main thing is that you're satisfied with the arrangements, and it sounds like you are. If the Borghese has all 6 Caravaggios on display, and if the two churches have 2 each, you would expect to see about 10 Caravaggios.