ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



since ancient times." Unfortunately, both Julius the 

 Second and Bramante died before the Loggie were 

 completed, and the grandeur and unity of the Urbino 

 master's conception was destroyed by the tasteless 

 additions of future Popes. Before the end of the 

 century Sixtus the Fifth walled in the Loggie and 

 built the Library, which cut the great Court in two, 

 while in later times the roofing over of the Belvedere 

 Cortile and building of the Braccio Nuovo completed 

 the ruin of what was once the finest garden in the 

 world. 



Many and varied are the testimonies that we have 

 to the beauty of the " Prato del Belvedere " the Eellum 

 Videri Pratum, as the Giardino della Pigna was called 

 in these early days. In 1510, when both Julius the 

 Second and Bramante were still living, the Marquis of 

 Mantua's son, Federico Gonzaga, was sent to Rome as 

 a hostage for his father's good behaviour on his release 

 from captivity at Venice. The handsome ten-year-old 

 boy, who was the apple of his mother Isabella's eyes, 

 became the old Pope's pet and plaything and the 

 spoiled child of the Cardinals, who sought to win the 

 Marchesa's good graces by this easy way to her heart. 



" His Highness is lodged in the finest rooms of the 



palace," wrote his tutor Stazio Gadio, " and takes his 



meals in a most beautiful loggia looking all over the 



Campagna, which is justly called Belvedere. He 



70 



