THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



ITALIAN GARDENS AND FOUNTAINS 



By Olivia Rossetti Agresti 

 (of Rome) 



Illustrated lecture given in the American Museum of Natural 

 History, Thursday, March 8, 1923. 



(Mr. Geo. T. Pozvell, presiding.) 



THE lecturer gave an historical description of the growth of 

 Italian Gardening and of the development in type and detail 

 which expressed the changing ideals through the centuries. 



Signora Agresti's first slide showed gardens of the classic period, 

 particularly those of Pompeii, with their complete restoration, 

 always considered as part of the house an unroofed court or out- 

 of-door room, with fountains, statues and green foliage. 



During mediaeval times, the gardens were mainly reduced to 

 those in monasteries and convents. The need of medicinal herbs 

 for healing the sick, and of vegetables and fruits for the table, 

 gave but limited space for flowers. Many gardens of this type 

 were shown within beautiful cloisters and notably that at Mon- 

 reale, Palermo, and that of the garden in Rome which is now used 

 as the National Museum. 



In the fourteenth century, with the growing wealth of the mer- 

 chants and guildsmen, came a revival of the art of gardening 

 throughout Italy, and in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were 

 Ijuilt the beautiful villas and gardens of the Renaissance, which 

 have been a joy to succeeding generations. 



The villa, both buildings and grounds, represented the creative 

 work of one artist, resulting in unity of plan. Always considering 

 the garden an open-air extension of the house, the whole was 

 carefully placed in relation to the surrounding landscape, usually 

 upon the slope of a hill. Sections were planned for the colder 

 season with protection from the winds and other sections for the 

 heat of the summer, with formal gardens and long terraces, usually 

 with an outlook over the valley, at a commanding point, for the 

 garden was a place to look out from as well as to enjoy within. 



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