Following the complete restoration of the Farnese Aviary on the Palatine, an exhibition presented the gardens created by the Farnese family, one of the most famous and symbolic places of Renaissance and Baroque Rome. The itinerary led where once the ancient gardens were laid out in the mid-16th century by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. It ran from Via Nova, on the edge of the Roman Forum, as far as the Aviary on the Palatine Hill.

The tour was conceived as a narrative, beginning with the Farnese project, then retracing the period of the Grand Tour, when the gardens acquired their romantic appearance that fascinated Goethe, and ending in the early 20th century, when the archaeological investigations began.