GARDENS OF FLORENTINE HUMANISTS 



whom Galeazzo calls the loveliest maiden in Florence, 

 joined in country dances with the peasant girls of 

 Careggi. Altogether it was a memorable afternoon, 

 and one that the young Sforza prince could not easily 

 forget. 



Cafaggiuolo was another villa which Michelozzo 

 built for Cosimo on a spur of the Apennines in Val 

 Mugello, eighteen miles from the town. Vasari 

 describes this as a castle with moat and drawbridge, 

 built for defence, but surrounded with ilex-woods, 

 gardens, fountains, aviaries, and all that makes a villa 

 fair and pleasant. To-day Cafaggiuolo still retains its 

 massive tower and machicolated walls, although the 

 moat and bridges are gone and the grass grows up 

 to the doors. But according to Messer Giorgio, 

 Michelozzo's masterpiece was the villa which he built 

 for Cosimo's younger son, Giovanni, on the steep hill 

 of Fiesole. Here he had to contend with the natural 

 difficulties of the site, but even these the great architect 

 turned to advantage, raising huge buttresses against the 

 hillside, and having stables, cellars, and storehouses cut 

 out of the rock, on which he erected " fair halls and 

 saloons for music and books." "And so great was 

 his skill," adds Vasari, " that in spite of the exposed 

 situation of the house no crack has ever been seen in 

 the walls." 



Cosimo's grandsons, Lorenzo and Giuliano, spent 

 13 



