■Foreign Notices : — Italy. 305 



delightful climate make it produce excellent corn; and its vines, in point of 

 quality, can vie with any in France. The Milanese gentlemen, allured by the 

 charms of the place, have congregated there ; by which means the country has 

 become interspersed with the most delightful rural retreats. Amongst these 

 gentlemen the Cavalier Gargantini is the most distinguished. The buildings 

 which he has constructed on his estate are in a very elegant style of architec- 

 ture, and contain every convenience required by an agriculturist. I intend 

 some day to give you an account of the agriculture in Brianza, and in that 

 case I will give you designs of some of the buildings on the estates mentioned ; 

 because it appears to me that they merit a place in the supplement which you 

 propose for your very useful Architectural Enci/clopcedia. Gernetto is situated 

 at the distance of only two leagues north from Monza,and five from Milan, on an 

 eminence ; at the bottom of which, on the west, flows the Lambro ; and from 

 the north to the east is seen the most delightful romantic valley. The proprie- 

 tor. Count Giacomo Mallerio, knowing the advantages of the situation, so im- 

 proved it as to produce a most delightful retreat. He has formed the valley into 

 a park, which occupies a superficial space of 500 Milanese pestichi. This park 

 is a true English garden. Man has only to adorn it with buildings (^monumenti) , 

 and to form suitable paths, as the heights, valleys, brooks, &c., are formed by 

 the great master-hand of nature. The slopes exposed to the west are laid out 

 in terrace-gardens (scaglioni), called the Genoese style here.- I cannot give 

 you an idea of the view I enjoyed from the top of the hill, with the majestic 

 windings of the river Lambro below, varied by the beautiful ancient trees 

 which flourish on its banks, and by the flocks and herds which pasture in the 

 contiguous fields and on the opposite hills ; the chain of the Alps towering on 

 the west ; and the flat-lying Lombardy on the south, extending as if to the 

 Apennines, 



I mentioned in a return paper last year that a ikfelia Az'ederach grew in the 

 open air in this garden 40 ft. high, and the circumference of the trunk 48 in. ; 

 but this year it has been very much injured, on account of the severity of 

 last winter. I should not, however, say that the winter was severe, as the 

 temperature at a minimum was at 9^8' of Reaumur ; whereas, in other win- 

 ters, the temperature is sometimes so low as 15°. In 1829-30, for two nights 

 only, it was at 12°; and for four or five days it was at 10", when it returned 

 to 4° or 5°, with a sky continually clear : but this year, on the contrary, the 

 temperature was at 9° for several days, with an atmosphere always loaded with 

 vapour ; and for ten or twelve days a single ray of the sun did not appear, and 

 the nights were clear; and, on this account, the white frost remained attached 

 to the trees as if it had snowed, and did much damage to many plants which, 

 in former winters, stood the open air without the least injury, such as Pittos- 

 porum Tobira, Jmjgdalus orientalis, &c. The MagnoUa grandiflora lost almost 

 all its leaves, and several of the weakest plants died. I observed here three 

 camellias, with flowers of a simple red colour, standing the open air in the most 

 luxuriant state of vegetation, and measuring 10 ft. in height. They are planted 

 in a situation which is sheltered from the north and east winds, the latter of 

 which is particularly hurtful to our vegetation. The excellent gardener, 

 Signor Antonio Mavari, assured me that they had no other protection than a 

 cap of straw, and a few dried leaves at the bottom of the stem. - The Count 

 Mallerio was one of the first who introduced the camellia and the Psebnia 

 Moutan into Italy ; so that he has now camellias 12 ft. high, and the diameter 

 of the trunk 5i in. I admired a beautiful collection of pelargoniums here, 

 amongst which there were several species of recent introduction ; also beau- 

 tiful specimens of Eucalyptus robusta, resinifera, and paniculata, Clethra ar- 

 borea, and 2?hododendron arboreum. Besides the orangery, which is built in 

 a most beautiful style of architecture, there is a stove for pine-apples, where 

 'they are cultivated with great care. 



Vilta Silva at Cinisello. Cinisello is a village two leagues and a half north 

 from Milan, and one and a quarter south-west from Monza. This villa is the 

 Summer residence of Count Hercules Silva, author of the work entitled Dell' 



