VILLAS AT FRASCATI 



123 



casino, and raised a story above tlie level of tlie terrace. The view from tlie terrace is stupendous, 

 especially at sunset, when the purple and golden colouring of the Sabine Hills is not easily 

 forgotten. To the right Tivoli, and the little towns and villages dotted m scattered white patches 

 upon the brown mountain-sides. The kitchen offices are constructed underneath the terrace, and the 

 chimneys carried up in the form of high Doric columns. The central feature of the terrace is a 

 fine fountain supported by the Borghese dragons. Upon the eastern side of the grand court 

 is an oblong ' giardino segreto,' now only used as a playground for boys, but shown in old 

 prints as a parterre garden, with a loggia at one end attributed to Vignola, and at the other end 

 a theatre d'eau designed by Giovanni Fontana. It is raised above the court, and approached by 

 a double ramp elaborately inlaid in mosaic,' ^^-ith many surprise fountains, an elaborate design, 

 with niches in low relief depicting architectural compositions in perspective, and is now fast 

 falling into ruin. There are several 



■ J 



engravings extant of this tlicatre d'eau, 

 notably one by Kysell. 



The Villa Pallavicini was for- 

 merly known as Belpoggio. The ac- 

 companying sketch, taken from Rossi's 

 panoramic view of the Frascati villas, 

 shows the garden as it appeared in 

 the seventeenth century ; the plan upon 

 Plate III is from Percier and Fon- 

 taine's work. The villa is raised upon 

 a platform with the ground falling away 

 upon all four sides; upon the north- 

 east, olive woods descend in terraces 

 towards Frascati. The north end of 

 the garden was formerly a bosco and 

 terminated in a broad terrace overlook- 

 ing the Campagna. The garden has 



been very much spoilt in modern times ; the great parterre is now practically destroyed, and 

 only the cool ilex tunnels at either side remain. 



The Villa Falconieri adjoins the Villa Borghese, to the east of Frascati ; a narrow lane 

 leads to the monumental entrance-gates erected in 1729, by Cardinal Alexander Falconieri; 

 the gateway is now unused, and access to the villa is by a more modern gateway leading 

 to a prato, opposite the entrance to the parterre, shown upon Plate 112. The villa is the oldest 

 in Frascati, and was originally built for Cardinal Ruffini by Borromini. It afterwards belonged 

 to the Sforza and Falconieri families, whose crest-a falcon-may still be seen above the o-ateway 

 According to Rossi's print, the original entrance occupied the present position, and a roadway 



BELPOGGIO 



from an o/d Pnnt. ' 



