26 THE ART OF GARDEN DESIGN IN ITALY 



where he also laid out fine gardens and cultivated many rare flowers and shrubs. The Villa di 

 Castello, built by Pier Francesco de' Medici, belonged to the Medici before they became Grand 

 Dukes of Tuscany, and was always one of their favourite residences. The villa of Pratolino, 

 some six miles from Florence, owes its existence to the Grand Duke Francesco I., who bought 

 the estate in 1569, and squandered enormous sums upon the casino and the garden, which he 

 adorned with statues, grottoes, and fountains of every description, causing great misery to the 

 peasantry of all the countryside, by the amount of ground he threw out of cultivation in making 

 his park. The garden of Pratolino was the wonder of all beholders. Montaigne visited it in 

 1580, when it was in the height of its glory, and remarks that 'The Grand Duke has used all his 

 five senses to beautify it.' He mentions a grotto wherein the movement of water made music 

 and harmony, causing various statues to move and doors to shut, animals also plunge in to drink, 

 and other such devices. ' In one moment the whole grotto is filled with water, every chair 



r 



squirts it over your thighs, and fleeing therefrom up the steps of the villa,' if they choose, they 

 can start a thousand jets, and drench you to the skin.^ Here John of Bologna constructed an 

 enormous giant representing the Apennines, at the foot of which stands the villa. The gardens, 

 with all their curious hydraulic displays, were the delight of Bianca Capello, the Venetian countess 

 and afterwards grand duchess. Here we might see Jupiter charging an aquatic thunder, the 

 siege of a fortress with cannons and arquebuses of water, and other costly devices ; for the Grand 

 Duke spared nothing to satisfy her. Indeed, to Bianca Capello is probably due the credit of 

 having brought into fashion the hydraulic surprises which for so many generations continued to 

 delight the garden designer. The gardens were arranged upon the hillside, the axial line running 

 north and south, the casino being in the centre, and on the north side an open green or ' prato ' 

 with a large semicircular basin, and John of Bologna's reclining figure of the Apennines, behind 

 which was a platform, with a large bosco and fountain of Jove. The private flower garden was 

 on the east of the casino, and contained a magnificent fountain with a basin supported on porphyry 

 columns, an aviary, and 'serraglio,' or animal house. To the south of the villa was a long avenue 

 .with balustrades upon either side designed as a series of steps, down which water ran in a channel 

 from basin to basin. The cascade ended in a series of large fishponds. Further jets of water 

 were so arranged that they could be constantly turned on to cool the pathway during the heat 

 of the day. These so-called ' secret fountains,' whether or not they Avere intended always as a 

 surprise to those visiting the garden, served a very useful purpose in keeping the stonework, 

 exposed to a blazing summer sun, cool and moist, and at the same time they were most useful in 

 very quickly watering a pathway or terrace. The gardens are very fully described in a rare pamphlet 

 by Bernardo Sgrilli ' towards the middle of the eighteenth century. He gives elaborate plans of 

 the villa, together with a minute account of the aquatic marvels which were the great attraction 



1 Michel de Uont3.lgne, /onrna/ du Voyage en Italie par la Suisse et rAlkmagne en 1580 et 1581. 



^ Descrizione delta Regia Villa, Fontane, e Fabbriche di Pratolino. Da Bernadone Sgrilli, Architetto Fiorentino. Nella Stamperia Ducale 

 Firenze, 1742. i^ ■> 



