'////: (;,iKi)i<:\s or ITALY. 



79 



CHAPTER VII. 



GARDENS OF THE QUIRINAL, AND SOME STREET 



FOUNTAINS IN ROME. 



THE long, central garden, of which passers-by can catch a glimpse beyond the guarded 

 gates, runs the whole width of the grounds, and is flanked on either side by towering 

 \\alls of close-clipped box and bay. These must be at least thirty feet high and of 

 great width, with shady roads cut within them. Huge old ilex trees grow at intervals 

 and throw their distorted black arms in all directions. These are more than three hundred 

 years old, and are part of the garden which was 

 originally planted here by Ippolito, Cardinal of Este, 

 adjoining his town house ; his country seat being 

 the famous Villa d'Este at Tivoli. These long and 

 lofty bocages map out the garden, and between 

 their ranks are lawns and parterres and the most 

 goodly show of palm trees to be seen anywhere in 

 Italy, unless it may be in Villa Pamphilj Doria. The 

 larger ones would take two men to clasp their trunks. 

 The garden is full of old Roman and Renaissance 

 remains sarcophagi, garden figures and vases. 

 A great part of the garden has been turned into a 

 riding-ground, which, of course, cannot be anything 

 but unsightly. Looking upon this is the palazzina 

 in which are the apartments occupied by the Royal 

 Family, at the opposite end of the garden from the 

 palace proper. 



It is absolutely quiet in the Royal garden. 

 Nothing can be heard to tell us that we are in the 

 very heart of a great capital. The distant chime 

 of bells, the twittering of birds are the only sounds 

 that reach our ears. A charming little parterre runs 

 along the terrace which overlooks the distant town, 

 and is fenced in by rose hedges on one side while 

 on the other are masses of sweet peas trained to 

 make a thick wall of shaded colour. From the 

 terrace, on which are groups of garden statuary, 

 the view extends over Rome, with St. Peter's 

 towering on the Vatican hill and the fortress of 

 Monte Mario rising to the west. Lean over the 

 balustrade and the remains of a huge grotto may 

 be seen in the courtyard below, with an organ 

 fountain, evidently a relic of the old pleasure-ground 

 of Cardinal d'Este, recalling as it does the splendid 

 structure with which he decorated the slopes of Tivoli. 

 Felice Peretti, after he had quarrelled with all 

 the monks of Naples, in the sixteenth century, 



90. QUIRINAL : PI.AN OF THE PALACE. 

 MONTE CAVALLO, ROME. 



