Stone pine tree of Villa Borghese // Rome, Italy

We’d heard a lot about the Villa Borghese and the surrounding gardens, some might say that it is Rome’s equivalent to Central Park in Manhattan, New York, prior to our trip to Rome in December 2018. The gardens of Villa Borghese cover 80 hectares in downtown Rome and date back to the 1600s. They’re place where the visitors and residents of Rome go to escape the hustle and bustle of downtown.

One of the most striking features of the gardens are the stone pine (Pinus pinea) that are native to Rome and the Mediterranean region. They can grow up to 25 metres in height; its bark has a distinctive vertical texture, which is evident in this photograph. I want to say I took this photograph during the late afternoon (look at the sun, its during golden hour) which it was because the winter sun sets so much earlier in the northern hemisphere.