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VILLA DEI COLLAZZI AND VILLA GAMBERAIA. 



From a broken shield dug up in 1900, inscribed " Zenobius Lapius Fundavit, M.D.C.X.," 

 it seems probable that the villa was erected for the Lapi family. The name of the architect 

 is not forthcoming, but there are an elegance and a simplicity in the arrangement of the small 

 courtyard, with an arcade in the centre of the house from which the vaulted rooms open, which 

 indicate some very capable master of the late Renaissance, perhaps Ammanati, or one of his 

 pupils. On two sides of this court are flying balconies supported on three arches. Numerous 

 contracts and lawsuits exist connected with the water supply for the fountains. In 1619 

 Zenobi Lapi died, leaving the property to two nephews, Jacopo di Andrea Lapi and Andrea 

 di Cosimo Lapi, and failing heirs from them it was to be divided between the Capponi 

 and Cerretani families. In 1624 Jacopo died, leaving a young son. His uncle, The 

 most illustrious Signore Cosimo Lapi, a noble Florentine," laid out the inlaid grottoes, 

 and developed a perfect passion for making fountains and jeux d'eaux. In 1636 one 

 poor lady, a Signora Aurelia, brings an action against him, complaining that he has cut off 

 necessary water from her villa by the reservoirs which he has made. Not unnaturally, he left his 

 property much in debt, and when his nephew, Andrea, died in 1688, the estate was heavily 

 mortgaged. Andrea's son, another Jacopo, died in 1717 without heirs male, and the Capponi 

 and Cerretani dividing the Lapi property, Garnberaia fell to the former. It is to Andrea, without 

 doubt, that we owe the bowling green, the dark cypresses and the stone statues. The old villa 

 has changed hands many times since then, and was even at one time let out in lodgings for the 

 summer. Fortunately, it has never been spoilt, and it now belongs to two ladies. Both 

 are artists, and in their hands the villa becomes every year more beautiful. E. M. P. 



336, THE WAY OUT. 



