300 THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 



The villa belonged at that time to Cioni de' Fini ; the Tolomei bought it soon after, and sold 

 it in 1454 to Matteo Palmieri. Born in 1405, he was a friend of Cosimo de Medici and an able 

 scholar and author. He filled high office in the Republic and was ambassador. He died in 1475. 

 By a descendant of his, in 1670, it was transformed into " a most noble palace " and called by 

 his own name. The high road to Fiesole at that time ran under an archway where the grand 

 terrace now stretches, and was only cleared away when the Earl of Crawford bought the villa 

 in 1874 and made a new carriage road. 



Villa Palmieri during the last two centuries was a great favourite with English people. In 

 1766 Lord Cowper came here and, with his wife, who had been the beautiful Miss Gore, found 

 it so enchanting that they made it their home ; and Sir Horace Mann, in his letters, gives an 

 account of their brilliant entertainments and of the admiration of the Italian people, high and 

 low, for the young and lovely Countess. From 1824 an eccentric lady, Miss Mary Farhill, 

 lived in it for thirty years. She left it to the Grand Duchess Marie Antoinette de Bourbon, 

 and in 1874 it passed into the hands of Lord Crawford. In 1888 and again in 1893 Lady 

 Crawford lent her beautiful villa to Queen Victoria. Many people recall the interest that was 

 aroused by the sight of the English Queen driving about the country near, and expressing the 

 greatest pleasure at her stay. 



In the National Gallery is an interesting picture of the Assumption of Our Lady, 

 attributed by Vasari to Botticelli, but now considered to be a school painting. It has " an 

 infinite number of figures, with the zones of the heavens, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the 

 Apostles, the Evangelists, the Martyrs, the Confessors, the Doctors, the Virgins, and the 

 Hierarchies." On either side, at the foot, kneel the donor, Matteo Palmieri, and his wife, Cosa 

 Serragli. The picture was painted for the Palmieri Chapel in San Pietro Maggiore, but the 

 owner of Villa Palmieri, who was a very learned man, an accomplished scholar, and a friend of 

 Cosimo de Medici, had offended the Church by writing a poem, " Citta della Vita," which was 

 pronounced to contain heretical opinions on the subject of angels. The poem was not even 

 published, but its contents being made known after its author's death, the tribunal of the 

 Inquisition wanted to disinter the corpse and burn it together with the manuscript. Fortunately, 

 the Republic would not give up either, and the MS. is now one of the treasures of the Laurentian 

 Library. The picture was ordered to be removed from the chapel, and was taken to the old 

 scholar's villa and walled up for safety. It was only discovered at the beginning of the 

 nineteenth century. Examining it in the National Gallery, it is easy to see traces of stabs and 

 cuts upon the donor and his wife, inflicted by the zeal of the faithful when it yet hung in the 

 Palmieri Chapel. 



In the present day in truth the Villa Palmieri is as fascinating a resort as one could 

 wish to find for spring and summer days and nights. Its wide bricked terrace (Fig. 304), with a 

 balustrade and statues, looking out over the Val d'Arno, would seem the very place for the 

 gathering together of a company of congenial spirits. The double stairway (Fig. 305), with its 

 fine, graceful sweep, was built by Palmieri 's descendant in 1670 ; it is overgrown with creepers 

 and the air is heavy with perfume. It leads to the flower garden, bordered by a wall in which 

 round openings at intervals frame exquisite views (Fig. 309). Below, the ground falls away into 

 wild and distant walks where irises grow in springtime and such nightingales sing as might 

 have heralded the coming of Pampinea and her goodly company. E. M. P. 



The Villa Palmieri is also not always easy to see, and requires the owner's special permission. 

 It is on the Fiesole slopes about two hundred and ninety feet up, and stands out well and 

 distinctly above its garden slopes (Figs. 304 and 306). The lines on the fa9ades (Fig. 307) forming 

 the decorative panelling are unduly harsh in photography. They are in reality brown rather 

 than black in effect, and do not in general disturb the surfaces of the walls, being held in 

 check by the strong mass of the roof colouring. A. T. B. 



