European Ax\d Japanese Garden; 



i^^ Ha i&fli ti'^ 



ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF THE VILIA GARDEN" 

 Plan of Villa Lante At Bagr 



ancient and glorious 

 estates with such 

 loveHness of pros- 

 pect and setting". 



Given the condi- 

 tions which I have 

 tried to sketch, it is 

 easy to understand 

 the results that came 

 about in the domain 

 of landscape gard- 

 ening. The churchly 

 patricians who built 

 the villas were no 

 recluses, seeking the 

 solitude of the glens 

 and forests to hold 

 communion only 

 with themselves and 

 nature. They w^re 

 the i)owerful, proud 

 and wealthy leaders 

 of a society conspic- 

 uous for its worldli- 

 ness and love of dis- 

 play. Like true Ital- 

 ians they loved the 

 open air, but unlike 

 the lords of Eng- 

 land and France, 

 they had no taste for 

 the chase, and the 

 necessities of their 

 state precluded their 

 resorting to distant 

 castles embowered 

 in the forests or hid- 

 den in the gorges 

 of the Apennines. 

 It was to the villa 

 that thev fled for 



