THE GARDENS OF VENICE 



" Veri paradisi terrestri per la vaghezza del acre e del orto, luogo 

 de ninfe e de semi-dei." ANDREA CALMO. 



FEW Italians take greater pleasure in flowers and 

 gardens than the people of Venice, the city in the sea. 

 These dwellers in the lagoons, whose houses rise from 

 the water's edge, and who seldom own more than a 

 few feet of ground, are passionately fond of plants 

 and blossoms. They cultivate every inch of soil 

 within these narrow bounds, and grow vines and 

 acacias round every traghetto and osteria. Their bal- 

 conies are hung with wisteria and Virginia creeper, 

 their roofs and window-ledges are gay with flower- 

 pots. Every visitor to Venice remembers the glimpses 

 of leafy arbours, of palm and myrtle and pomegranate, 

 that charm his eyes as his gondola glides along the 

 Grand Canal, the flowery paradise behind the iron 

 gates of Ca' Foscari and Casa Rossa, the gardens of 

 Palazzo della Mula and Venier, the trailing roses and 

 white convolvulus of the loggia at Ca' Capello that 

 fair house which few of us to-day can see without 

 a sigh for the gracious presence which has passed 

 away. Even in the densely populated quarters of the 

 city, at the back of the Carmine and San Panta- 

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