18S4..' THE GIANT CYPBESSES OF VERONA. 243 



THE GIANT CYPBESSES OF VEBONA. 



^N point of interest and importance second to Venice alone amongst 

 ^ the towns of Venetia, Verona has long been a favourite halting-place 

 '"^ for thetraveller inNorthern Italy. Its attractions, taking into con- 

 sideration the size of the town, which has a population not exceeding 

 sixty thousand persons, are many and various. The magnificent 

 Arena, considered to date back to the reign of Diocletian, will satisfy 

 the antiquarian ; there are numerous churches, and especially S. 

 Zenone Maggiore, well worthy of the attention of lovers of archi- 

 tecture and painting ; and the Piazza delle Erbe, filled with fruits and 

 flowers, together with the neighbouring squares and streets, will 

 charm the seeker after the picturesque. There is one spot, however, 

 in the outskirts of the town which holds out special attractions to 

 those who make arboriculture or floriculture a study, and here 

 the feet of any reader of ' Foeestry ' who may visit Verona are sure 

 to tarry awhile. Let me in a few words attempt to portray the 

 scene. 



From the strong fortress of S. I'ietro, crowning the rugged hill 

 which rises abruptly from the northern bank of the Adige, a turbulent 

 muddy stream a hundred yards in breadth, the high ground runs 

 north to the Castello S. Felice, and thence trends southward, within the 

 line of fortifications, which enclose the entire town, in the form of an 

 elongated horse-shoe, finally losing itself in the level of the Lombardy 

 plains close to the Church of S. Pietro Martire. To the point where 

 the horse-shoe is thus brought to an end I would direct the traveller's 

 steps. Passing down the narrow Via S. Maria in Organo, and 

 glancing up an unused grass-grown bridle-path leading eastward, one 

 sees towering up within the confines of a high white-washed wall the 

 spires and crowns of a wilderness of shrubs and flowering trees, 

 evidently forming what in ancient times would have been termed a 

 ' paradise ' of no ordinary kind. Entering at a gateway in the main 

 street the visitor finds himself in a large courtyard, bounded on three 

 sides by the walls of a mansion of no mean pretensions, and on the 

 fourth by a massive and very tall railing of open iron-work, through 

 which the beauties of the famous Giardino Criusti appear spread out 

 before him. 



A small douceur suffices to obtain admission, and the first glance 

 reveals the pride of the garden. Away from two statues which face 

 the gateway stretches a broad gravel path to where, a hundred and 

 twenty yards distant, a tall flight of stone steps leads up to the base 

 of the cliff, which shuts in the garden to the eastward. On either 

 side of the path superb Cypresses, planted in regular succession, up- 



