THE GARDENS OF PAPAL ROME 



From the ramparts of Castell' Sant' Angelo, Pope 

 Clement saw the thick columns of smoke rising 

 above his beautiful villa. " This is Pompeo Colonna's 

 revenge," he said, " for the castles and villages which 

 I destroyed on his estates." The invaders had indeed 

 set fire to the house, and considerable damage was done. 

 The grand staircase and eastern portico were blown up, 

 the marble hemicycle was partly destroyed, and the 

 roof of the upper story fell in. Fortunately the great 

 Loggia remained unhurt, and Giulio Romano's frescoes 

 and Giovanni da Udine's stuccoes escaped injury. A 

 temporary roof was hastily erected to prevent further 

 damage, and, after the Pope's return to Rome in 1530, 

 he employed Raphael's former colleague, Antonio di 

 San Gallo, to restore the villa. But the grand staircase 

 and upper story were never rebuilt, and the colonnade 

 of the hemicycle was allowed to remain in ruins. After 

 Clement the Seventh's death, in 1534, his villa was sold 

 to the Canons of S. Eustachio, whose property it 

 remained until the marriage of Paul the Third's 

 nephew, Ottavio Farnese, to the Emperor Charles the 

 Fifth's daughter Margaret. When the Imperial bride, 

 Madama Margherita, came to Rome in 1538, she stayed 

 at the villa before making her state entry into the city, 

 and was so well pleased with the house that the Pope 

 purchased it for her private use. Henceforth Margaret 

 made Clement the Seventh's f^igna her country-house, 

 95 



