238 



ENGLISH PLEASURE GARDENS 



Caprarola. 



The Villa 

 Lante. 



to the desolation an agreeable melancholy. Looking 

 from the terraces and belvederes, through the firm, dark 

 foliage of the cypresses, there are wonderful views of 

 the Campagna, which, stretching boundless as the ocean, 

 fades into the sky on the distant 

 horizon. 



At Caprarola, forty miles or so 

 north of Rome, the octagonal 

 fortress-like castle constructed by 

 Vignola still stands intact. As 

 the garden, however, is not kept 

 up, it is chiefly interesting on ac- 



CAKYATIJE.:VltLA 



count of its charming casino, its weird hermae, fauns, and 

 caryatides ranged along the terraces, and the stone stair- 

 way bordered by dolphins spouting water into basins. 

 The Villa Lante is another of Vignola's creations. 

 In excellent condition, both as to house and gardens, it 

 is perhaps the most perfect example of a seventeenth- 

 century villa. "In narrow room, nature's whole wealth, 

 nay, more a heaven on earth." The beautiful motives 

 which nature carelessly scatters over the landscape are 

 here in harmonious contrast with art and logically con- 

 centrated near the chief dwellings or casinos. For in- 

 stance, the mass of water gushes from a formal cliff 

 backing the highest terrace, falls into an abreuvoir 

 or trough, rises in a spouting fountain, descends in a 

 rippling stream, tumbles in a noisy cascade, and makes 



