ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



and students. Here Poliziano and Pico discoursed of 

 classical myths and Greek ideals, and Botticelli and the 

 young Michelangelo studied bas-reliefs and sarcophagi 

 in the myrtle groves and cypress avenues under the 

 shadow of San Marco. The members of the Academy 

 often met in the Oricellari gardens, beyond Santa Maria 

 Novella, where, in later days, Machiavelli fired the 

 patriotic enthusiasm of the young Florentines with his 

 lectures on Roman heroes, and Giovanni Rucellai's play, 

 Rosmunda, was acted in the presence of Pope Leo the 

 Tenth. 



All over the hills near Florence villas sprang up, built 

 by the friends and kinsfolk of the Medici on these 

 delicious sites, "where," in Messer Agnolo's words, " the 

 air is pure as crystal, and the views are divinely beautiful, 

 where there are few fogs and no bitter winds, but all 

 things are good and wholesome." l The Tornabuoni ~~ 

 had their country house at Chiasso Macerelli, between 

 Careggi and Fiesole. Here Piero de' Medici met and 

 courted Lucrezia Tornabuoni, the admirable mother 

 who was the object of the Magnifico's love and reverence, 

 and here one summer day in 1486 young Lorenzo, the 

 hope of the family, led home Giovanna degli Albizzi, 

 the fairest maiden in Florence, as his bride. Ghirlandaio 

 painted Giovanna's portrait, and Botticelli decorated 

 the plan nobile of the villa with two famous frescoes 



1 Del Cover no della Famiglia^ 105. 

 2O 



