ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



to Mantua with the remembrance of Villa Madama fresh 

 in his mind, transformed the stables of the Gonzaga 

 dukes on the marshes of the Te into another 

 splendid pleasure-house, adorned with similar frescoes 

 and stucco reliefs. 



Yet another palatial villa in North Italy was clearly 

 modelled on the same pattern. This was Cricoli, the 

 sumptuous house built by Leo the Tenth and Clement 

 the Seventh's nuncio, the learned patrician Trissino, on 

 the green hills near his home at Vicenza. Trissino's 

 keen admiration for antique art led him to a close 

 study of Vitruvius, and, fired by the examples of 

 Renaissance architecture which he saw in Rome, he 

 laid out his villa and gardens with so much taste and 

 judgment that, in the words of a contemporary, they 

 made the Muses forget Helicon and Parnassus. It is 

 interesting to remember that this house at Cricoli, 

 which certainly bears a close resemblance to Villa 

 Madama, inspired the boy Palladio with his first 

 passion for classical building, and started him on the 

 career that was to affect the whole future course of 

 architecture. So, as Geymiiller has justly remarked, 

 Raphael became the link that connects Bramante with 

 Palladio, and Roman architecture with that of northern 

 cities. 



When, in the latter half of the century, the great 

 outburst of gardening took place in Rome, the in- 



