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THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



GARDENS AND VILLAS IN THE ITALIAN LAKE DISTRICT.- 



LAGO MAGGIORE. 



L'PON the shores of this lake, the Lacus Verbanus of the Romans, there has been much 

 less villa building than was the case at Como. The lake is some forty miles long 

 and between two and three miles wide, the northern part being Swiss, while the 

 remainder is Italian. Wild, rough mountains descending sheer into the lake, 

 without roads or even ledges, present it an air of austere grandeur. The crumpled facets of 

 these walls surrounding the lake are full of deep shadows. Behind the immediate crests are 

 ridges of snow-clad mountains peaked like volcanoes. On the lower necks of land between 

 the gentler slopes an occasional domed church and campanilli, with cone-like cupola catching 

 the sunlight, speaks of Italian racial tradition, while a ruined castle recalls the troubled past 

 of this grim-looking, if now peaceful, lake. As the night steamer nears Pallanza long lines of 

 brilliant fires seem to be burning at the water's edge, intensifying the dark masses of the 



380. ISOLA BELLA : LOWER TERRACE WALK. 



