rome ..Borghese gallery

You should absolutely get tickets in advance and they are very serious about the time you have allotted. I think we spent around four hours inside and outdoors. Beautiful. Well worth it!

Is it necessary to purchase tickets ahead for the Borghese Art gallery? I will be hoping to purchase 2 tickets for Sunday, September 8th

Definitely purchase tickets ahead (as poster above stated too)

The Borghese Gallery tickets are a hot item; they sell out fast. Your other alternative would be a tour through a company like -

Walks Of Italy - https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/villa-borghese-gallery-tour/
The Roman Guy - If they still sell the group tour. Appears they sell a "private guided" tour.
Through Eternity - https://www.througheternity.com/en/rome-tours/borghese-gallery-tour.html

The Borghese Gallery does not allow bags of any size to be brought in. It will need to be checked. To secure your valuables during your visit, maybe wear a money belt or neck wallet or similar for your money, CC, Passport, phone, etc.

Your visit will be limited to two hours , as per the gallery policy . be there early , since you must leave any day bag at a check in desk and you will need to queue to enter the gallery proper . Better to be at the front of the queue , it will get you in with several minutes advantage , rather than being at the tail end . Have a look at this recent posting for more in depth information - https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/borghese-august-and-september

Yes, you need to buy tickets ahead and the sooner the better as that date still shows availability. I used the website tosc.it if you scroll down, the option to change the language to English is listed in a little box on the right side. I’m sure there is a way to change the official Borghese Museum website to English, but I couldn’t make it happen and I know I bought my tickets on the tosc.it site.

You will get to pick a 2 hour block of time to see the museum. You will need to collect your tickets ahead of your entry time. They are very strict about that 2 hour block and move you out when time is up. On the day we went, people started lining up about 5-10 min.before our entry time. We got the audio guide as well.

You can spend all the time you want in the gardens - it’s a huge park.

Note that if you aren't in line to pick up your tickets at least 10-15 minutes before entry time, they may be forfeited and resold. They open the doors to the galleries on time - if you're at the end of the line, it can take as much as 15 minutes away from your time since you wait for everyone ahead of to climb up the stairway to the first floor of the gallery. They begin asking people to leave about 10-15 minutes before the end of the 2 hours when last visitors are out of the galleries.

This is the official ticketing site:

https://www.tosc.it/tickets.htm?affiliate=T2C&sort_by=event_datum&sort_direction=asc&fun=erdetail&doc=erdetaila&erid=912678

As noted above, if it comes up in Italian, use the "Select Language" dropdown on the lower right of the page to change to English.

Villa Borghese is a VERY large public park with paths, trees, lawns, some fountains and statuary, a small man-made lake and various structures both ornamental and functional but it's nearly devoid of flowers. There are manicured gardens behind and beside Galleria Borghese itself but again, with few flowers.

The expanse of green space is WELL worth a ramble; it has just surprised some tourists who've expected it to be something different. :O)

It took us at least 20 minutes to check our bags---not sure why it was so crazy. Definitely worth the wait.

Oh, more info about visiting in case you miss it:

http://www.ticketone.it/obj/media/IT-eventim/pdf/en/galleria-borghese-5.pdf

They list cameras as being mandatory to check but unless they are having a special exhibit (which appears they're having at the moment) photography has generally been allowed for a few years now.

Edited to add: as noted below, no flash, tripods, monopods.... And we much preferred this museum to the zoo the Vatican has become.

Camera's have been allowed but using a flash is not! Whoops.
The Borghese gets tremendous accolades and shows up as a "must see" on most Rome lists. Yet when I think about the top 10 plus thing I have seen in Italy it does not make my list. It's a bit of a yawner in my opinion and even with the tightly controlled access, overcrowded. The park is fabulous. Be sure to allow enough time to enjoy it.

Note that the Roma pass no longer provides Borghese privilege. Previously this was one of the benefits of the Roma pass and a "trick" for getting Borghese access. You could call and reserve even when the website showed that there were no available tickets..if you told them that you had the Roma pass. Given the popularity of the museum, it seems unlikely that the Roma pass access will return...

We were just there a couple of weeks ago. It is an excellent museum. I don't think they allow any photos - even without a flash. We were there for the regular museum - not a speical exhibit and we were not allowed to take photos.

Jeannie, " Lucio Fontana. Earth and Gold" is exhibiting there from 22 May. - extended to 25th August, and "Bird Cage, a temporary shelter. Zhang Enli for the Borghese Gallery" just closed on July 7th. They note this on the Italian version of the https://www.tosc.it website. Really glad you're another fan of this museum!

I'm reading reviews on TA that not every visitor has been thrilled with more modern works temporarily displayed amongst the older, more historic pieces! :O)

we booked tickets online but still hired a local guide, we showed up 30mins before timed entry and after we had a 2 hr walk around the garden which was very nice

We just returned from our Italy vacation. Purchase Borghese tix ahead of time. We tried to get them with an English speaking tour but they were sold out so we purchased tix w/Italian tour. But we didn't join the tour, used ear buds listening to RS audio tour instead. We took subway to the area, the shopping streets near it are great. Then we bought sandwiches from food carts on the Borghese Garden grounds, rented a 5 person bike (we have 3 children) and had such fun biking around the gardens for an hour before our 3:00 ticket time. It was my and my husband's favorite museum; outshined the Vatican for us.

I visited the Borghese last week:

No photos allowed. I saw people with their phone pointed toward the sculptures, but I was told no photos, when I took one. Opps

They let both my daughter and keep our small purses.

Hated the special exhibit! Was weird and seemed very out of place.

Loved the sculptures.

The motorized multi-person bikes around the park looked fun.

Quick question - do they allow cell phones at least?
(I would guess yes but they do sound strict)