THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 



BY JOHN K. M. L. FARQUHAR, BOSTON. 



Delivered before the Society, with steropticon iUustrations, 

 March 80, 1907. 



The oldest form of Italian garden is undoubtedly the court-yard 

 garden. This garden consisted of a geometrical arrangement of 

 the court into formal beds and borders with convenient paths laid 

 in mosaic or paved and embellished with statuary, sculpture, sun- 

 dials, fountains, and stationary wash-basins of marble. Occasionally 

 the statuary and fountains were of bronze. Pompeii had numerous 

 gardens of this class, several of which have been restored by the 

 Italian Government, and it is interesting to see the attendants turn 

 the water on the fountains through the system of pyriform lead 

 pipes which did service 2000 years ago. 



The court -yard garden is of oriental idea, enclosed for protection, 

 surrounded by an arcade on three or four sides of its rectangular 

 area, and furnished with benches and other accessories to comfort. 

 It was a garden for the family to live in, serving the same purpose 

 as the small garden in the rear of the city houses of Japan, or the 

 high-walled gardens of China, and like these existed for the family 

 rather than for the passer-by. 



The second step in garden evolution is seen in the hillside gardens. 

 These occur chiefly throughout central Italy and mark a more 

 advanced state of civilization, when personal security had become 

 established, and when a wall ten or twelve feet in height afforded 

 ample protection to the inmates of the villa. The hillside villa 

 was usually rectangular, the house occupying the highest ground 

 in the rear. The ground was arranged in a series of terraces which 

 were usually separated by parapets frequently surmounted by 

 balustrades. The terrace arrangement made the sloping groimd 

 more usable. One terrace could be arranged with arched recesses 



