HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 33 



with Zucchero*s frescoes, and columns arranged in a masterly way. This court was probably 

 originally used as a court uf entrance, and as such doubtless had no parterre ; it is also probable 

 that the 'giardino secretn ' and kitchen gardens occupied spaces upon either side. One of these 

 spaces, which appears to have been the 'privy garden/ contains a restoration of an Etruscan 

 temple, for the Villa Papa Giulio Is now a museum. The walls on either side of the courtyard 

 are lavishly ornamented in delicate relief A fine open loggia divides the two courtyards, so that 

 a vista Is obtained through the loggia and beyond to a small square parterre, where a Httle 

 fountain sends up its silvery jet of sparkling water. From the second or further courtyard steps 

 descend to the semicircular grotto (illustrated on riate 2) enclosed within a well-proportioned 

 balustrade ; here the murmur of rippling water is never absent from the air, tiny cascades descend 

 over rocks of moss and maidenhair, and finally flow into a miniature canal, where gold and silver 

 fish dart ceaselessly about. There are few more wholly satisfactory examples of garden architecture 

 in Italy than this delightful grotto, and indeed the whole villa is so cleverly planned that it is 

 well worthy of the close study that has so often been de\-oted to it. We can picture the aged 

 Pontiff rowing to his villa in state from the \'atican, so infirm that he must needs be evcr}-where 

 transported upon his white mule (the circular stairwa)-s are so constructed that it is easy for an 

 animal to ascend lo the first floor), from day to day inspecting the progress of the works, always 

 indulging some new caprice w^hich his architects must at once set themselves to realise. Such a 

 \illa was well suited to the pleasures of his court. 



I 



In Genoa and the neighbourhood the architect C.aleazzo Alessi constructed many villas 

 about the middle and latter part of the sixteenth century. Of these creations there are now but 

 few remains. The Villa Imperiali, Sampierdarcna, still retains much of its original garden, and is 

 perhaps the best preserved of his villas. In many of the Genoese y\\]:\?^, the entrance cortilc Is 

 \ery cle\crly treated ; especially is this the case where the palace backs on to rising ground, 

 and the retaining wall has of necessity to be made decorative. It is always the delight of an 

 Italian that tlie passer-by in the hot street should get a glimpse through the areh\\-ay of a cool 

 green cortilc with perhaps a fountain jet or water flowing from a mossy grotto, and the idea is 

 a very charming one, and capable of much dl\-erse trcatnient. At Bologna the effect of perspecth'C 

 is so real in one of the smaller palaces that the distance o[ the rear wall appears far away. At 

 the Palazzo Pevilacqua, in the same city, the cortile has an unusual form of fountain, formed of 

 a well-head basin and lion, seated above a square pilaster, from whose mouth the water Issues. 



About the middle of the sixteenth century the great gardens of the Villa d' Este [Plate 113] 

 were commenced and continued during the whole of the life of Cardinal Ippolito d' Este, who 

 died in 1572. 



w 



At the same the Boboli Gardens at Florence [Plate 29] were being constructed by Ammanati 

 and Buontalentl. The Villa Medici at Rome [Plate 90] was commenced about 1550 from the 

 designs of Annibale Lippl. In 1560 Plrro Llgorio built the charming little \'illa Pia In the gardens 



of the Vatican, which is one of the most delightful examples of garden architecture left in Italy. 



