48 Old Gardens of Italy 



privacy conveyed by most of the famous gardens. 

 At the top of the cascade is a huge figure of Fame 

 with two others reclining at her feet and represent- 

 ing Florence and Lucca. The cascade itself is 

 broken up by figures of birds. A dense bosco of 

 ilex clothes the slope above, and terrace above ter- 

 race rises to meet it from the parterre. The great 

 middle terrace is backed by the high clipped edge 

 of the bosco. At the end of this terrace, when 

 walking towards the casino, and on the inner (or 

 right) side, is a pretty little theatre, with wings of 

 topiary work as at Marlia. A rustic bridge across 

 a small ravine leads to the house. From the road 

 below a wonderful system of ramps rise past two 

 sentry boxes to the palace. Collodi is by far the 

 most important garden in the neighbourhood of 

 Lucca. The two large pools in the parterre are not 

 pleasing features of the design. 



VILLA MARLIA, LUCCA. 



LUCCA is a good centre for the garden explorer. 

 Even within the city the writer came on the remains 

 of two old gardens. One is the garden of the 

 Palazzo Bottom, just outside the Porta San Ger- 

 vasio. It retains only its rectangular plan with 

 four gates and a grotto. It is not worth a visit, 

 but the concierge readily admits anyone interested, 

 and postcards of it may be seen in the shops. 

 The other is the garden of the seventeenth century 



