Old Gardens of Italy 5 g 



VILLA MANSI, SEGROMIGNO, LUCCA. 



ABOUT twenty minutes' walk from Villa Torrigiani. 

 Anyone will point out the way. The front of the 

 villa, which resembles that of Torrigiani, is attrac- 

 tive, but the garden now contains no formal features 

 except a balustraded pool with statues. Just beyond 

 it is the Villa Mazzarosa, with small circular temple 

 erected in 1830 to the honour of famous men of 

 Lucca. The grounds did not appear formal, but 

 the writer failed to enter them. The house was 

 built about 1813 far too late for a garden of 

 formal design to have been planned. Yet at Lucca 

 the appreciation of the old style lingered long, for 

 in 1785 an amphitheatre for horse races was laid 

 out in a way strongly reminiscent of an old garden 

 design. The plan may be seen in one of the glass 

 cases at the Pinacoteca. 



