Borghese Cousins.

The Borghese are an ancient and illustrious Italian noble family, originally from Siena, where a 13th-century wool merchant, Tiezzo da Monticiano, had a nephew named Borghese who gave his name to the house. Members of the Sienese patriciate, the Borghese held important civic offices before moving to Rome in the 16th century with Marcantonio I.

The Roman ascent culminated in 1605 with the election of Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V. The pontiff and his nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese — a great patron and collector — carried the family to the summit of the Roman nobility, Princes of Sulmona and of Rossano.

To the family is owed the celebrated Villa Borghese in Rome, built by Cardinal Scipione from 1607 on the Pincio hill, with its rich art gallery. After the unification of Italy, at the end of a long dispute, the Villa was bought by the Italian State in 1901; in 1903 the State ceded it to the Municipality of Rome, which opened it to the public — becoming thus one of the principal parks of the capital.

The Borghese Princes of Rome are cousins of the Princes of Tricase through the female line, by way of a chain of marriages that starts from Maria Bianca Gallone (1852–1939), daughter of Senator Giuseppe Gallone and sister of Pietro Giovanni Battista «Gino», 9th Prince of Tricase.

The line then passes into the Barons Compagna, then into the Princes of Forino (Caracciolo), into the Vallone, and reaches the Borghese Princes: the branch of the Princes of Sulmona, descending from Paolo Borghese (1845–1920), from his son Livio (1874–1939, diplomat), from Junio Valerio (1906–1974) and finally from Giulio Livio «Giulì» Borghese (1940–1989), who married Loretta Vallone in 1965.

Learn more about the southern fiefs of the House: Moliterno and Marsiconovo.