THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 
to a lemon garden, backed by the lemon-house, 
the stanzone which one finds in every old Italian 
garden, where all the half-hardy plants can be 
stored in the winter. Beyond this again lies the 
real wood, with winding walks under iexes and 
cypresses, and little encampments of tables and seats, 
a cool place even in the midday glare. The garden 
is wonderfully. spaced and full of surprises: Coming 
back to the bowling green we pass an incon- 
spicuous opening in the stiff hedge whtch borders 
a portion of it, and may step into a retired nook, 
quite cut off from the rest, dressed with roses and 
irises, and looking down upon what a sea of 
grey-green olives. It signifies so little that a 
garden like this is not very large, for away on 
every hand stretches the larger garden of the 
laughing Italian country-side, in such soft waves 
of melting colours, that it is immaterial where the 
exact boundaries end. 
From a broken shield dug up in 1goo, 
inscribed “* Zenobius Lapius Fundavit, M.D.C.X.,” 
it seems probable that the villa was erected for 
the Lapi family. The name of the architect is not 
forthcoming, but it has an elegance and simplicity 
in the arrangement of the small courtyard with 
pillars in the centre and the — graceful flying 
balconies which take off its squareness, which 
indicate some. very capable master of the late 
Renaissance, perhaps Ammanati, or one of _ his 
( 
pupils. Numerous contracts and lawsuits exist 
connected with the water supply for the fountains. 
In 161g Zenobi Lapi died, leaving the property to 
two nephews, Jacopo di Andrea Lapi and Andrea 
di Cosimo Lapi, and failing heirs from them 
it was to be divided between the Capponi 
and Cerretani families. In 1624 Jacopo died, 
leaving a young son. His uncle “The most 
illustrious Signore Cosimo Lapi, a noble Floren- 
tine,” laid out the inlaid grottoes, and developed a 
perfect passion for making fountains and Jeux 
d’eaux. In 1636 one poor lady, a Signora Aurelia, 
brings an action against him, complaining that 
he has cut off necessary water from her villa 
by the reservoirs he has made. Not unnaturally 
he left his property much in debt, and 
when his nephew Andrea died in 1688, the 
estate was heavily mortgaged. Andrea’s son, 
another Jacopo, died in 1717 without heirs male, 
and the Capponi and Cerretani dividing the Lapi 
property, Gamberaia fell to the former. It is to 
Andrea, without doubt, that we owe the bowling 
green and the dark cypresses and stone statues. The 
old villa has changed hands many times since then, 
and was even at one time let out in lodgings for 
the summer. Fortunately it has never been spoilt, 
and it now belongs to two ladies, Princess Ghika 
and Miss Blood. Both ladies are artists, and in their 
hands the villa becomes every year more beautiful. 
114 ) 
