THE ITALIAN GARDEN 53 



we see it to-day in an incomplete state, void of all architectural embellish- 

 ment — a barrack-like structure planned to house a cardinal and his suite, 

 numbering, it is said, as many as two hundred and fifty persons. Though 

 the Casino was never entirely completed, no effort was spared in laying out 

 the gardens, which were the joint design of Pirro Ligorio, Giacomo della 

 Porta, and the famous hydraulic engineer, Orazio Olivieri. The River Anio 

 flowed into Tivoli from the mountain heights, and a part of its waters was 

 diverted to supply the enormous amount required for the multitude of 

 fountains, cascades and hydraulic surprises that excited so much wonder 

 and admiration when in the heyday of their glory, and as they appeared 

 when Evelyn saw them : " We went to the Palace of Este. In the 

 garden are sixteen vast conchas of marble, jetting out water, before 

 the ascent of the Palace is the famous fountain of Leda and not far 

 from that four sweet and delicious gardens. Descending thence are 

 two pyramids of water and in a grove of trees near it the fountains of 

 Tethys, Esculapius, etc. The cupids pouring out water are most rare and 

 the grots are richly paved with ' pietra-commessa ' shells, coral, etc. A 

 long fountain walk led to a curious model of ancient Rome with temples 

 and streets all in miniature, and in another part was the great water 

 organ, which, as Montaigne complained, always played the same tune. 

 This was effected by means of water, which, falling in a large body, and 

 with a sudden descent into a round arched cave,- strikes upon the air in it, 

 and compels it to make its exit through the pipes of the organ which are 

 thus supplied with wind. Another fall of water turns a broad wheel fur- 

 nished with teeth so fixed in it as to strike in due order the keys of the organ 

 and thus produce the tune to which the wheel is set." 



The Casino stands upon a wide terrace some four hundred and fifty 

 yards long, high above the garden ; in the centre opposite the Casino, one 

 descends to the next terrace below and by means of ramps and stairways 

 to the-level of the great fountain terrace, or gallery of a hundred fountains. 

 The balustrades to the stairways are ingeniously formed of a series of basins 

 and jets' of water, leaping from step to step. 



^ At one end of the great fountain terrace is a large theatre ^V^«, known 

 as the fountain of Arethusa, and an adjoining grotto, with bathing rooms-; 

 at -the other end is a miniature representation of an ancient city, supposed 

 to represent old Rome with its little streets, temples and theatres. 



