24 THE ART OF GARDEN DESIGN IN ITALY 



shaped site divided into plots, each slightly sunk from the level of the path and surrounded by- 

 pergolas upheld by seventy columns. The walks are paved, and around a central octagonal space 

 were four small fountains with balustrades. 



The very remarkable and rare work of Francesco Colonna, printed by Aldus of Venice, in 

 1499, known as ' Poliphili Hypnerotomachia,* an allegorical romance, has important garden descrip- 

 tions and many good woodcuts. In one of these is shown an arbour of woodwork supported by six 

 columns, and seats on either side. - Two of these woodcuts are reproduced here (on page 23), taken 

 from a fine copy of the book in the Ambrosian Library at Milan. Other illustrations give designs 

 for treillage, fountains, and parterres, in which the old classic idea of box inscriptions is frequently 

 to be met with. 



Lorenzo de' Medici, surnamed the Magnificent, the friend of Michael Angelo, and patron of. 

 all the arts in Florence, gave great impetus to the revival of the art of garden design towards 

 the end of the fifteenth century by making his gardens decorative adjuncts to the house. The 

 greatest artists of the day, as Michael Angelo, Giulio Romano, and Raphael, Michelozzi, Ammanati, 

 and Buontalenti, were charged with the designing of these delightful gardens. Life continually 

 became more and more pleasurable under the influence of the great Medici family, in whose country 

 houses poets, artists, and learned men frequently met together and discussed with their wealthy 

 patrons the art and literature of the day ; and the capital of Tuscany and its surroundings owe to 

 them a number of sumptuous villas created during the period of their magnificence, when great 

 progress was made in the art of garden design. Many of these creations have to-day disappeared 

 in modern Florence, but one can easily find sufficient traces to show how much they had been 

 inspired by their classic prototypes. 



In 1417 Cosimo de' Medici bought a country house at Careggi, which he considerably 

 altered under the guidance of Michelozzo Michelozzi, rebuilding and fortifying the villa, placing the 

 pleasure grounds within high walls, with oak woods crowning the neighbouring hills. Here 

 Cosimo spent the last days of his life, seldom moving abroad, and here he died in 1464. 

 According to Vasari, Michelozzi also designed for Cosimo the fortress villa at Cafaggiuolo ; nothing, 

 remains of this garden at the present day. Ferdinand de' Medici commissioned Bernardo 

 Buontalenti to enlarge and improve the Villa della Petraja, near Florence, and he also erected the 

 Villa deir Ambrogiana. In 1440 Luca Pitti caused Brunelleschi, the architect of the Duomo, to 

 build the Pitti Palace. The Boboli Garden that we can still admire behind the palace was laid 

 out at a later date under Cosimo I. by the architects II Tribolo and Buontalenti. 



The villas at the end of the fifteenth century were generally bound up with considerable 

 agricultural surroundings. In Tuscany the ' podere ' or farm, even to this day, invariably extends 

 to the very garden wall, whilst the farm buildings are often included in the garden scheme. 



Poggio-a-Cajano, La Sforzesca, built by the Sforza family, in the environs of Vigevano, 

 both served as model farms as well as country retreats. Poggio-a-Cajano was constructed by 

 Lorenzo il Magnifico about the year 1485 from the designs of Giulio di San Gallo. It is situate 



