4.6 THE ART OF GARDEN DESIGN IN ITALY 



Princess Charlotte constructed the road connecting the village of Cernobbio with Moltrasio, at 

 the same time making the entrance avenue and archway on the south side of the villa. Upon 

 the lakeside a terrace occupied one half of the facade, with a water-stairway in the centre of the 

 ' casino; the principal entrance opened on to a portico overlooking the inner courtyard. The 

 dining-room was in the centre of the casino and overlooked a small enclosed parterre garden. 



On the eastern side of the casino is the parterre, divided into three levels, with a low 

 terrace and circular stone stairways ; ornamented with flowerbeds and busts. On the north-east 

 side a 'stanzone,' or orange-house, enclosed the parterre, and on the north a fine architectural 

 grotto, executed in spars and multicoloured pebbles, divided the parterre from the more utilitarian 

 'podere,' or farm. From the centre of this grotto began the 'grande allee/ a magnificent avenue 

 of cypresses, bordered upon either side by a series of basins, raised one above the other, down 

 which the water, gaily rushing, produced a most fairy-like effect. A small grotto and fountain of 

 Ariosto terminates the 'allee/ whilst at its foot is a small oval court with central pool sur- 

 rounded by caryatides supporting a cornice ; semicircular recesses are cleverly planned upon either 

 side of this court, from one of which a small door leads to a series of five apartments intended 

 to be lavishly decorated as a garden residence — an idea that was never fully finished. 



At the foot of the 'grande allee' two plane-tree avenues lead to right and left, and a 

 further avenue skirted the steep hillside, which (though probably left in its natural state in the 

 original garden scheme) was laid out in the so-called English style, following the bed of a small 

 mountain torrent. Upon the opposite side of the ' allee ' the ground was entirely devoted to the 

 cultivation of vines and olives. The idea of continuing the main axial line of the parterre, 

 through the grotto and up the vista formed by the long rows of solemn cypresses, to the 

 fountain of Ariosto, was one worthy of the best tradition of Italian garden design, and, given a 

 sufficient supply, the effect of long lines of silvery water, trickling from basin to basin, glistening 

 in the sunlight between the cypresses, must have been entrancing and fairylike. 



In one part of the grounds is a small circular temple with columns and cornice of 

 marble, with a statue of the Goddess of Wisdom and a bust of Telemachus. The monument to 

 Ariosto was never completed, and the facade to the grotto in which it stands is also incomplete. 

 At the back of the grotto is a mill for grinding corn and crushing olives, and cisterns into 

 which the water for the cascade and fountains was collected. Small temples and summer-houses, 

 sham classic and mediaeval ruins, complete the scheme for this part of the grounds, and are 

 hardly worthy of our serious consideration. 



A few miles further, and on the opposite side of the lake, is the Villa PHniana, coolly recessed 

 in the deep shade of thickly wooded cliffs. It was built in 1570 by Count Anguissola, of 

 . Piacenza, and is now the property of Marchese Trotti. The garden is terraced, but is of no 

 great extent, owing to the very restricted nature of the site. Entering through the water-gate, 

 one is delighted by a charmingly cool grotto, with varieties of ferns and water trickling in tiny 

 pots from pool to pool. Unfortunately no attempt is made to keep up the original character of 



