Exclusive photoproduction of $${{\rho ^0}} (770)$$ρ0(770)mesons is studied using the H1 detector at the ep collider HERA. A sample of about 900,000 events is used to measure single- and double-differential cross sections for the reaction $$\gamma p \rightarrow \pi ^{+}\pi ^{-}Y$$γp→π+π-Y. Reactions where the proton stays intact ($${{{m_Y}} {=}m_p}$$mY=mp) are statistically separated from those where the proton dissociates to a low-mass hadronic system ($$m_p{