GARDENS OF THE QUIRINAL, 
ROME. 
HE long, central garden, of which passers-by 
can catch a glimpse beyond the guarded 
gates, runs the whole width of the grounds, 
and is flanked on either side by towering 
walls of close-clipped box and bay. ‘These must 
be at least thirty feet high and of great width, 
with shady roads cut within them. Huge old ilex 
trees grow at intervals and throw their distorted 
black arms in all directions. These are more than 
three hundred years old, and are part of the garden 
which was originally planted here by Ippolito, 
Cardinal of Este, adjoining his town house ;_ his 
country seat being Villa d’Este at Tivoli. These 
long and lofty éocages map out the garden, and 
between their ranks are lawns and parterres and the 
most goodly show of palm trees to be seen any- 
where in Italy, unless it may be in Villa Pamphilj 
Doria. The larger ones would take two men to 
clasp their trunks. The garden is full of old Roman 
and Renaissance remains—sarcophagi, garden figures, 
and vases. A fine old marble sundial is conspicuous 
in one of the square gardens, and in another part 
there is a large low basin and a fountain where 
water nymphs sport upon the rocks, and eight or 
ten groups of arums make a circle round them, 
among the goldfish. A great part of the garden 
has been turned into a riding-ground, which of 
course cannot be anything but unsightly, and 
looking upon this is the pa/azzina in which are 
the apartments occupied by the Royal Family, at the 
opposite end of the garden from the palace proper. 
The garden is bounded at this end by a high erection 
of wall with balconies, along the facade of which 
are ranged long terra-cotta flower-boxes, from which 
hang masses of rose-coloured ivy geraniums, forming 
a brilliant curtain upon the creamy background. 
It is absolutely quiet in the Royal garden. 
Nothing can be heard, to tell that it is in the heart 
of a great capital. The distant chime of bells, 
the twittering of birds, are the only sounds that 
reach one’s ears. In the grounds are several 
casinos ; a pretty, bark-covered summer-house has 
lately been built for the Royal children, who pass 
a great part of every day playing in the garden. 
They keep their toys in a simply-furnished room 
opening on a stone piazza, which is evidently a 
favourite play-place, to judge by the dédris left 
74 
lying from the morning’s games, the whips and 
bricks and the dolls’ feast laid out on a_ bench 
and decorated with berries and birds’ feathers. A 
charming little parterre runs along the terrace, 
which overlooks the distant town and is fenced 
in by rose hedges on one side and on another by 
masses of sweet peas trained to make a_ thick 
wall of shaded colour. From the terrace, on which 
are groups of garden statuary, one seems to look 
over all Rome, with St. Peter’s towering on the 
Vatican hill, and the fortress of Monte Mario 
rising to the west. If you lean over the balustrade 
the remains of a huge grotto is to be seen in the 
courtyard below with an organ fountain, evidently 
a relic of the old  pleasure-ground of Cardinal 
d’Este, and which recalls the similar erections with 
which he decorated the slopes of Tivoli. 
Felice Peretti, when he quarrelled with all the 
monks of Naples in the sixteenth century, came 
to Rome, and, being very learned, was set to expound 
the Fathers to the Abbot of SS. Apostoli, the 
monastery which lies just below the hill. He 
remained a long time as his guest, and the abbot 
and the imperious monk formed a firm friendship. 
No doubt they often walked in the Colonna 
Gardens, and Peretti, when he became Sixtus V. 
in 1585, had learned to love the high, healthy 
air of the Quirinal hill. Gregory XIII. had 
already begun building there, and Sixtus carried 
on and extended his plans, and so built the palace 
in which till 1870 the Popes lived for a part of 
every year. It was already a favourite site for 
gardens. Besides those of Cardinal d’Este, Cardinal 
Carafa’s gardens stretched along part of where 
Via XX. Settembre now runs. It was Carafa 
who first recognised the beauty of the group 
known as Pasquino, and set it upon that pedestal 
to which those witty lampoons and _ satirical 
epigrams were affixed, which have made the name 
of the statue famous in every language. It soon 
after became the fashion to build summer palaces 
on the Quirinal hill, as being healthier than low 
Rome, and safer than going beyond the walls. 
Sixtus V. died here, and since his time twenty-one 
other Popes have died at the Quirinal, each making 
the curious bequest of his heart and viscera to 
the Church of SS. Vincent and Anastasius. 
