138 Old Gardens of Italy 



the property of H.R.H. the Count of Caserta. 

 Permesso from Monsieur leCommandeurVincenzo 

 Scala, Administrateur des Biens Farnesiens, Palazzo 

 Farnese, Rome. If it is desired to visit the garden 

 as well as the house a special pemission for the 

 " Villa ed il Palazzo Farnese di Caprarola " must 

 be asked for. 



Caprarola is in every way the most amazing 

 place of its kind in Italy, and no garden pilgrim 

 can afford to omit it from his programme. From 

 Rome it is reached by rail from the Trastevere 

 Station to Capranica (on the Viterbo line), forty 

 miles, whence it is a drive of four miles to Capra- 

 rola. Or if Viterbo be the headquarters Caprarola 

 can be reached from there (about eleven miles). 

 This road used to be dangerous, the Ciminian 

 Forest having for centuries past borne an evil 

 reputation, but now the excursion is an absolutely 

 safe one. /The first sight of the great, loftily 

 situated, five-sided palace, with its immense stair- 

 way, is very striking. It is rare that a summer 

 residence of the Middle Ages is found so far from 

 a large town, and hardly ever do we see one, as is 

 so often the case at home, in an isolated spot. 

 The Farnese Palace is on the margin of the 

 ittle hill town of Caprarola, which it completely 

 dominates. 



Behind the palace and separated from it by a 

 narrow moat is the garden. Two large rectangular 

 spaces, one above the other, will first be visited, 

 the box outlines of their former flower-beds still 

 discernible, but their grottos and statues in ruins. 



