ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



setting for the palace or villa. But the student of 

 Vitruvius and Alberti, the friend of Leonardo and 

 Luca Pacioli, came to Rome with new ideas teeming 

 in his brain. He remembered the Duchess's garden in 

 the court of the great palace at Urbino, with its 

 stately fountain, well-ordered walks, and glorious view 

 of the Apennines, and thought of Beatrice d'Este's 

 sunny pleasaunce under the loggia of the Rocchetta, 

 where clear waters gleamed among the flowers and 

 grassy lawns. Now he had to work on a larger scale 

 and lay out the Vatican precincts in a manner worthy 

 of the Supreme Pontiff. 



It was the Pope's wish to connect his own rooms in 

 the old palace with the Casino of the Belvedere, built 

 by Innocent the Eighth on a spur of the Vatican hill, 

 in order that he might be able to visit his collection 

 of precious antiques, without exposure to weather. 

 Accordingly Bramante designed two long parallel 

 galleries or loggie, each consisting of three stories 

 of arcade, to bridge over the valley lying between 

 the Vatican and the rising ground on which the villa 

 stands. One loggia looked out on the wooded slopes 

 of the hillside, the other commanded a beautiful view 

 of Rome and the Campagna. The enclosure between 

 these galleries was divided into two portions. The 

 lower court, nearest to the Vatican, was to serve as 



a theatre or arena for jousts and pageants, bull-fights 

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