286 



THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 



and Clement VII all figure in notable scenes, but most of all the reception of Francis I of 

 France by Leo X makes a special appeal to the historic sense. It witnesses the contact of 

 the North of Europe with the reviving glories of the Renaissance in the South, and recalls 

 to the mind all that followed from that dramatic encounter. 



In the small, square vaulted and frescoed chapel upstairs is an altar-piece by Andrei del 

 Sarto. The Rubens tapestries in the Sala di Pranzo and the Genoa velvet hangings are fine 

 pieces of colour. In the corridor are a collection of native Chinese pictures, given to Cosimo II 

 by the Sultan of Egypt. One in particular, a long detail drawing of old Canton, is of great 

 interest. Of the date of 1500 there is a huge white glazed wine jar covered with green vine 

 leaves, quite a unique example. 



The architect of the Villa Petraja, Buontalenti (1536 1608), remodelled it for Cardinal 

 Ferdinando de Medici in 1575. It had been a castle, and was the property of the Brunelleschi 

 in the fourteenth century. Of old trees there is one no less than four hundred years old, a holm 

 oak. The gardens form a fine setting to the house with their upper and lower terraces, below 

 which again is a great semicircular sweep, with central fountain and flower beds enclosed in 



box-edged patterns. 

 There are two staircases 

 from the upper to the 

 lower terrace, with 

 between them a sheet 

 of water nearly as long 

 as the house itself. 

 The upper terrace is 

 distinguished by two 

 massive old trees at one 

 end, while at the other 

 is the lovely fountain 

 by Tribolo and Giovanni 

 da Bologna, for which 

 the villa is famous. 

 From the terraces the 

 view in front is held by a 

 complete circuit of hills ; 

 Florence, traced by its 

 dome, is visible on the 

 left behind a line of 

 cypress trees. Petraja is 

 an enchanting spot, 

 modesty of style and colouring sits at ease in its 



299. VILLA MEDICEA DI CAREGGI : THE GARDEN 



and the house 

 surroundings. 



in its Tuscan 



The Villa Medicea Careggi* (Fig. 299), two miles north-west of Florence, lies on Montughi, 

 so called after the family of Ughi, at the foot of the main hills, one hundred and fifty feet below 

 Petraja. Careggi is from Campus Regis. There are Roman remains near by, and the Via 

 Cassia from Rome to Pistoia and Lucca passed that way. It was the property of the Grand 

 Dukes down to 1779. Castle-like in appearance, its present form is due to Michelozzo, who 

 reconstructed it for Cosimo the elder, some time about 1433, on the lines of the castle of 

 Trebbio in the Mugello. With Cosimo and Lorenzo the Magnificent it was a favourite 

 residence, and they both died here, Cosimo the elder on August ist, 1464, and his son Piero 

 five years later. When Lorenzo in his turn came to his death-bed at this villa, Savonarola 

 was sent for, and the famous demand for the restoration of the liberties of Florence is alleged 

 to have been made here by him as the price of absolution. Lorenzo's bedroom and study 



* This villa has been through repeated changes of ownership. The Corsini enlarged and altered it, probably from 

 designs by Antonio Ferri. It is in the baroco style, and has a large square court in the centre. 



