As early as the mid-1800s, well-established zoos had existed in major European cities. Colonial empires such as England, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Germany were easily able to source exotic animals from their overseas possessions. Inspired by the model of other countries, the idea of ​​setting up a zoo in Rome also arose in Italy. Under the aegis of the lawyers Riccardo Villanis and Ettore Ferrini a committee of promoters was founded, which included in its executive staff illustrious members as personalities of national political life. The Municipality of Rome, joining the initiative, granted the use of an area of ​​10 hectares between Villa Borghese and 1 Parioli. To finance the company in 1909 an anonymous company was founded with a capital of 1 million Lire, divided into bearer denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 50 shares of 100 Lire each, of various colon. The works for the installation of the Zoo began with great fervor in the same year, as the founding members wanted to coincide with its inauguration with the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the Kingdom in 1911. Both for consultancy on the architectural arrangement of the garden and for the supply of animals, the company secured the collaboration of the best known specialist in the sector, the German Carl Hagenbeck. So on 5.1.1911 the mayor of Rome Ernesto Nahtan, accompanied by a crowd of onlookers, inaugurated the largest zoological garden in Italy. Perhaps because of maladministration on the one hand, perhaps because of the outbreak of World War I, the management of the garden passed to the Municipality of Rome and the company was liquidated.