PREFACE 



THESE sketches on Renaissance Gardens and their 

 makers were first written at the suggestion of a 

 lamented friend, whose memory is honoured and 

 cherished by men and women of all classes and nation- 

 alities throughout Italy, Enid, Lady Layard. Every- 

 thing connected with Venice, where she made her home 

 for the last thirty-five years of her life, was dear to her, 

 more especially the traditions which linger about the 

 palazzi and piazze, the narrow canals and calli with 

 which she had so close and intimate an aquaintance. 

 And she loved the villas and gardens of the mainland, 

 the district of Asolo and the Trevigiana, the shores of 

 the Brenta and the Lago di Garda, the green slopes 

 of the Berici and Euganean hills. Nor was her love 

 of Italy confined to any one province. Umbria and 

 Tuscany, Fiesole and Settignano, the stately fragments 

 of Roman gardens, the villas of Tivoli and the 

 Campagna, were alike dear to Lady Layard, and her 

 memory still haunts these enchanted regions. 



To-day most of the gardens described in these pages 

 have unfortunately perished, and only live in the 



writings of Renaissance humanists, in the prose of 



vii 



