THE GARDENS OF VENICE 



which he introduced into his altar-piece of S. Pietro 

 Martire, and which was still standing fifty or sixty 

 years ago, has been cut down. But another charming 

 garden in this quarter still remains, and has been 

 little changed since the days of Titian and Aretino. 

 It belongs to the Villa Contarini del Zaffb, so called 

 because its owners were patrons of the galley which 

 yearly bore pilgrims for the Holy Land to the port 

 of Jaffa. This house was the birthplace of Gaspare 

 Contarini, the distinguished scholar and statesman, 

 whom his friend Bembo justly called the pillar of the 

 Church and the brightest ornament of the Republic, 

 who to the joy of his fellow-citizens was in his last 

 days made a Cardinal by the enlightened Farnese 

 Pope, Paul III. The Cardinal's portrait still hangs 

 in the salone of the villa, with the finely painted roof, 

 and his bust adorns the family chapel where his ashes 

 rest, in the neighbouring church of the Madonna del 

 Orto. The garden of Villa Contarini, which three 

 hundred years ago was one of the most beautiful 

 in Venice, has been carefully reconstructed by its 

 present owners on the lines of the original design, 

 and affords a typical example of a Venetian Renaissance 

 garden. The formal parterres are divided by yew and 

 hornbeam hedges, and adorned with fountains and 

 red brick exedra, and at the end of the cypress avenues 

 three gateways with finely moulded pilasters and 



113 H 



