ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



office under the Republic. He was successively Am- 

 bassador at Florence where his son Pietro was born in 

 1470 and at Ferrara, but is chiefly remembered by 

 the tomb which he raised to Dante's memory while he 

 was Podesta of Ravenna. Whenever Messer Bernardo 

 could spare a few weeks from his official duties, he 

 took refuge with his wife and children at Villa Bozza, 

 and there Pietro spent the happiest days of his boy- 

 hood. In his Latin Dialogue Etna, a record of the 

 journey which he paid to Sicily to study Greek under 

 Lascaris, the scene is laid at the Villa. We have a 

 charming picture of the two scholars, father and son, 

 sitting in the cool shelter of the atrium inside the house, 

 on a hot August day, discussing the eruption of the 

 volcano and all the wonderful things which the young 

 man had seen in Sicily. Presently the burning heat of 

 the sun compels them to retire into the library, where 

 they sit at ease and turn over the pages of their 

 favourite tomes, until the sun sinks in the western sky 

 and they stroll out into the woods by the river, listen- 

 ing to the pleasant murmur of running water. " Thus, 

 with always new delight, we return to our beloved 

 Nonianum." 



In June 1519 Bernardo died suddenly, and his son 

 was summoned to Venice, to find himself face to 

 face with a critical state of affairs. His father had 

 left heavy debts and three orphan grandchildren, the 



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