Introduction 



was so varied that it appeared much larger than it 

 was. One of the best examples in the whole of 

 Italy of the successful treatment of a small space 

 is the Villa Gamberaia, near Florence. The grounds 

 cover only about three acres, yet they have a 

 breadth and airiness and variety that could be 

 equalled by no ground laid out in the landscape 

 style. There is an exquisite water garden, a long 

 bowling alley of green turf, a sunk rock garden, a 

 sunny lemon garden, a dark, cool bosco, and a 

 terrace overlooking the valley of the Arno. 



Grass does not grow well in Italy, with its fierce 

 summer sun, so turf is not largely used. Still, we 

 find here and there a charming tapis vert, and 

 whenever it is brought into the scheme it is in just 

 the right place. The heat also prevents most 

 flowers from flourishing in summer, and therefore, 

 in the most southern parts, with the exception of 

 roses, we find few flowers in Italian gardens. Their 

 designers were thus restricted to the use of such 

 materials as were available, and perhaps this very 

 limitation led them to turn to the best account 

 what they had. Box, cypress, and ilex were their 

 principal evergreens, and lent themselves to many 

 charming effects. The fragrant box borders with 

 their exquisite shades of colour, the dignity of the 

 tall cypress in lone: lines forming an avenue, or 

 pointing to the deep blue sky from a terrace, the 

 dense shade and gnarled trunks of the ilex, were 

 all beautiful in their several ways. Had Pope 

 lived in the sixteenth century he would hardly 

 have v/ritten that " half the garden just reflects 



