BORGHESE, a noble Italian family of Sienese origin, first mentioned in 1238, a member of which, Marcantonio Borghese, settled in Rome and was the father of Camillo Borghese 1620), elected pope under the title of Paul V. (1605). The family took its place among the higher Roman nobility by the marriage of the prince's son Paolo with Olimpia, heiress of the Aldobrandini family, in 1614. In 1803 CAMILLO FILIPPO LUDOVICO, PRINCE BORGHESE (b. July 19, 1775), married Pauline, sister of the emperor Napoleon, and widow of General Leclerc. In 1806 he was made duke of Guastalla, and for some years acted as governor of the Piedmontese and Genoese provinces. After the fall of Napoleon he fixed his residence at Florence, where he died on May 9, 183 2. He sold the Borghese Art Collection to Napoleon, part of his payment being the Piedmontese domains. On the restoration of these to Sardinia in 1815 he received part of the collection. The Borghese palace at Rome is one of the most mag nificent buildings in the city, and contained a splendid gallery of pictures; most have been transferred to the Villa Borghese out side the Porto del Popolo, now Villa Umberto I., the property of the Italian Government.
See A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iii. 605, 600, 617, Almanach de Gotha (Gotha, 1002) ; J. H. Douglas, The Principal Noble Families of Rome (Rome, 19o5).