The individual jumping and dressage took place at the Piazza di Siena at the Villa Borghese Gardens, which were among the largest public parks in Roma. The gardens were started in 1605, when Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V and patron of Bernini, began converting a former vineyard.
The Olympic Equestrian Program was the same every year from 1928-2020, with one exception, that being 1960, as a team dressage event was not contested in 1960. Dressage judging had been controversial in 1956 and the event was threatened with removal from the Olympics, but only the team event was affected. Dressage and jumping were again open to women in 1960, but they were still not permitted to compete in eventing. The Soviet Union’s Sergey Filatov won the only dressage competition conducted in 1960 at Roma.