18 HISTORY OF GARDENING. PART I. 



likely to have given the first idea of an English garden, than Milton's description of 

 Paradise. (New Mori. Mag. for July 1820. ; Pindemonte su i Giardini Inglese, Verona, 

 1817.) 



79. Of the jiresent state of gardening in Italy, as an art of design, we shall submit a 

 slight sketch, partly from writers of the present century, and partly from our own inspec- 

 tion in 1819. The grand object of an Italian nobleman is to produce a huge pile of 

 architecture, externally splendid, and to collect a gallery of pictures and statues. The 

 furnishing of this pile for domestic use, or even the internal finishing of great part of it, 

 he cares little about ; and the park or gardens are inferior objects of attention. The 

 Romans, when at the highest point of power, seem to have had exactly the same taste, as 

 may be gathered from their writings, and seen in the existing ruins of the Villa Adriana, 

 near Tivoli, and many others. 



80. Near Turin, the palace and gardens of Venerie still exist, but are only remarkable 

 for extent, and for an old orangery nearly six hundred feet in length. The surface of the 

 park is irregular, and the trees distributed in avenues, alleys, and geometrical figures ; 

 the grounds of some of the numerous white villas near the city are romantic, and 

 command extensive prospects ; but very few aspire to the character of fine gardens. 



81. At Genoa the best garden is that of Sig. di Negro, situated within the city. It 

 is elevated, irregular, and singularly varied ; rich in views of the town, the sea, and the 

 mountains ; abounds in fruits, botanical riches, shady and open walks, turrets, and 

 caves. There is one large cave in which dinner-parties are frequently given by the pro- 

 prietor ; and once a year, we believe on his birth-day, this grotto is decorated with 

 some hundreds of religious puppets in gilt dresses, accompanied with pictures of saints, 

 sculls, crucifixes, relics, tapers, and lamps. This forms a part of the gardener's business, 

 who preserves these paraphernalia through the rest of the year in a sort of museum. 

 We mention the circumstance as characteristic of the Italian taste for spectacle, so different 

 from that of the English. The gardens of Hipolito Durazo, and of Grimaldi, are 

 more extensive, but less select than those of S. di Negro. Like them they are singularly 

 varied in surface, and rich in marine views. The whole coast from Savonna to Genoa, 

 and from Genoa to Nervi, is naturally very irregular, and abounds in beautiful gardens, 

 abundantly stocked with orange trees, partly in pots, and in the warmest situations trained 

 against walls, or planted as standards. We visited many of these gardens, and the only 

 general fault seemed to be the want of order and keeping ; properties which are essential 

 to the full effect of every style in every country. 



82. The gardens of Lombardy are the most luxuriant in vegetation, not only in Italy, 

 but perhaps in Europe. The climate is not so favorable for the perfection of the grape 

 and the orange as that of Naples, nor for the production of large turnips and succulent 

 cabbages as that of Holland ; but it possesses a medium of temperature and humidity 

 between the two climates which is perhaps favorable to a greater number of vegetable 

 productions, than any one climate on the face of our globe. There are few princely 

 gardens in this kingdom, but many of moderate size well stocked with trees and plants 

 of ornament, and sometimes neatly kept. 



The gardens of the Brenta still retain marks of their ancient celebrity. 



The extent and beauty of those of the Isola Bella (figA.), have been greatly exaggerated by Eustace, 

 and other travellers. The justest description appears to us to be that of Wilson. " Nothing," he says, 

 " can be so noble as the conversion of a barren rock, without an inch of earth on its surface, into a 

 paradise of fertility and luxury. This rock, in 1640, produced nothing but mosses and lichens, when 

 Vitaliano Boromeo conceived the idea of turning it into a garden of fruits and flowers. For this purpose, 

 he brought earth from the banks of the lake, and built ten terraces on arches, one above the other, to the 

 top of the island on which the palace is posted. This labor has produced a most singular pyramid of 

 exotics and other plants, which make a fine show, and constitute the chief ornament of this miracle of 

 artificial beauty. The orange and lemon trees are in great luxuriance, and the grove of laurels (L. nobilis] 

 is hardly to be equalled any where in Europe ; two of them in particular are said to be the largest 

 known in existence." ( Wilson's Tours, vol. iii. p. 449.) 



At Monza, the royal residence, near Milan, is the finest garden scenery in Italy. The park contains 

 upwards of 3000 acres, of a gently varied fertile surface. It is chiefly laid out in the regular style ; but 

 contains also an English garden of considerable extent and beauty. It is well watered, and the walks are 

 not so numerous as to disturb the unity and repose of the scenes. The culinary, flower, botanic, and 



