ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



Academy. When, in 1525, the Vicentine poet, Gian- 

 giorgio Trissino, came to Venice as Papal Legate, he 

 took a house in the parish of San Donate at Murano, 

 and spent much of his time in Trifone's society. On 

 summer mornings the Legate would join the youthful 

 scholars who met daily at Trifone's villa, and held 

 learned converse with them in his friend's garden, or 

 in those of Navagero and Alvise Priuli. These dis- 

 cussions were often prolonged to a late hour, and after 

 vespers the enthusiastic band of scholars might still be 

 seen pacing up and down the shores of the lagoon, 

 drinking in every word that fell from their teacher's 

 lips. 



But even Murano could not satisfy the new passion 

 for rural delights which had sprung up among these 

 Venetian humanists. They sought the hills and 

 forests of the mainland, the " Marca Amorosa " of 

 Treviso, the mountain region of Castelfranco under 

 the dolomite peaks which Gian Bellini and Cima were 

 never tired of painting, where Giorgione was born and 

 Titian had his home. Or they settled in the pleasant 

 district of the Euganean hills, where Arqua and 

 Monselice and half a dozen other bright little towns 

 nestle among the woods. Trifone Gabriele found the 

 seclusion which he loved in his villa at Ronchi, and 

 Bembo spent the happiest years of his life in his 

 " dolce Noniano" that delightful country-house between 

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