ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



grassy lawns and clear pools, or, as at Fiesole and 

 Poggio Gherardo, you saw all Valdarno lying at your 

 feet, with the mountains of Carrara in the distance and 

 the domes and towers of Florence rising out of the 

 violet haze. The landscape formed an important part 

 of the garden and was included in the general com- 

 position. Cypress and ilex avenues made fine per- 

 spectives along the hillside ; the beauty of distant 

 peaks and far blue plains was heightened by the over- 

 arching trees that framed in the vista. Close to the 

 house lay the Giardino segreto, well shut in by clipped 

 hedges of ilex or laurel a little garden with sunny 

 walks for winter days and a bosco to afford a retreat 

 from the noonday sun, a lawn with a fountain in the 

 centre and a sunk parterre filled with roses and pinks. 

 Lilies and sunflowers in big marble or terra-cotta vases 

 might be placed along the balustrade of the retaining 

 wall, and roses and jessamine were grown on trellis- 

 work or allowed to wander at will over the low stone 

 parapet. But few flowers, as a rule, we suspect, were 

 to be found in Renaissance gardens. Herein, as Sir 

 William Temple remarks, lies the great difference 

 between English and Italian gardens. 



"In the warmer regions, fruits and flowers of the 



best sort are so common and so easy of production 



that they grow in the fields and are not worth the 



cost of enclosing, or the care of more than ordinary 



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