THE GARDENS OF VENICE 



portico commanded a superb view of the Alps, and 

 looked down on a piazza surrounded by colonnades, 

 which rivalled those of St. Mark's. The memory of 

 the fetes given by the Contarini in honour of the French 

 monarch is still preserved in the noble frescoes with 

 which Tiepolo adorned the ceilings of the villa of 

 Lions at Mira, and which have now found a home 

 in the Musee Andre in Paris. There we may see 

 the long procession of richly decorated barges which 

 used once to float down the stream, and the delicious 

 gardens with terraces and flights of steps that led to 

 the pleasure-houses along its banks. The Mocenigo 

 family owned a fine villa at Dolo, which boasted a 

 facade painted by Varotari, while the palace of the 

 Pisani at Stra was even more imposing, with its vaulted 

 halls decorated by Tiepolo and its vast park and 

 gardens. 



To-day all these splendours have vanished like a 

 dream. As you float in a gondola down to Brenta, 

 between banks of vivid green, under a sky of still 

 more radiant blue, ruinous houses crumbling to decay 

 and a few squalid peasant huts are the only buildings 

 that meet the eye. The glorious loggia of Malcontenta 

 is a mere shell. A few desolate ilex groves and 

 cypress avenues are all that remain of the once 

 famous gardens at Stra. Here and there you see a 

 pair of ragged black-eyed children peering out 



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