European and Japanese Gardens 



fountain. From the point of view of design, the dense foliage of 

 this upper terrace serves as a foil and background for the more 

 open and artificial levels below it, and as a transition to the 

 wilder landscape of mountain and forest behind it. 



The flower-garden is laid out in geometrical compartments 

 bordered by square-clipped hedges of box, within which flowers 

 and foliage plants are cultivated in beds forming elaborate 

 scroll-patterns. The level walks are of gravel. An elaborate 

 fountain adorns the central area, forming a focus and point of 

 interest for the whole design. A high stone wall surrounds the 

 garden on three sides ; it is usually covered with vines or hid- 

 den by a profuse growth of box, yew, ilex, cypress, and pine, 

 producing an impression of perfect seclusion with no oppres- 

 sive display of prison-like walls. On the fourth side is the 

 retaining-wall of the middle terrace, which forms a monu- 

 mental decorative background for this lower garden, and a 

 foundation and preparation for the elaborately architectural 

 treatment of the second level. 



The central and dominant feature of the whole design is 

 the house or casino on the second level, on which it sometimes 

 advances to the front edge, as in the Pamfili Doria, its base- 

 ment, entered from the garden, forming in such cases the cen- 

 tral portion of the terrace wall. Designed chiefly as a pleasure- 

 house, for short sojourns and entertainments, its architecture 

 is usually of a festal and sometimes trivial character, perfectly 

 in harmonv with its purpose, and almost always in keeping 

 with the fanciful, wayward charm of the gardens. Few of these 

 casinos are commendable as architectural compositions, but 

 the softening hand of time and the delightful beauty of the old 

 gardens, which improve with age, impart to these somewhat 

 dubious compositions an adventitious charm impossible to 

 imitate. 



In the \'illa Lante, at Bagnaia, near \'iterbo, there is an 

 interesting departure from the usual practice. Tzvo houses, or 

 casiiii, stand one on either side of the central axis, permitting 

 an unobstructed axial vista through the whole extent of the 

 grounds, from top to bottom. Occasionally the casino is a 

 palazzo of considerable size, as in the \'illa d'Este at Tivoli ; 

 while in the cases of the Pitti palace and the palace at Capra- 

 rola (the Villa Farnese), the entire villa grounds lie behind the 

 residence. 



31 



