170 



THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE VILLA FALGONIERI. 



APROACHING this villa by the roughest of hill roads, which mainly run between 

 walls enclosing valuable olive yards, the fine gateway, illustrated (Fig. 176) demands 

 attention by the quality of its tufa masonry. This gateway of 1729 was erected by 

 Cardinal Falconieri. It is closed, as will be seen, by an intrusive tree growth, and 



another gateway higher up, of lesser architectural interest, leads into an enclosure, from which 



again a third gateway (Fig. 177) admits to an extensive forecourt of about one hundred yards 



in width. 



The villa is of great extent, broken, however, by a very prominent centre (Fig. 178), from which 



its extensive arcaded wings are set back so far as to seem like separate buildings. The house 



suffers so much from pink 

 and yellow washes that 

 it is difficult to judge 

 fairly of its architecture. 

 The detail is of an 

 inferior description, and 

 there have been restora- 

 tions evidently not abso- 

 lutely in character with 

 the original. The main 

 niche head, for instance, 

 is very poor in its 

 decoration. The change 

 of scale in main arches 

 of the loggia is un- 

 doubtedly a mistake, and 

 the break downwards of 

 the entablature is a 

 detrimental whim. The 

 strong feature of the 

 design is the light and 

 shade produced by the 

 boldly advanced masses. 

 The Palazzo is given 

 as the work of Borromini 

 (1599 - - 1667) in 1648, 

 though the villa was 

 laid out by Cardinal 

 Rufini in 1546. The 

 scheme therefore is one 

 of successive growth. A 

 tablet in the hall records 



176. THE DISUSED ENTRANCE OF THE VILLA FALCONIERI AT FRASCATI. a restoration in 1840. 



