VILLA MEDICI 



Of the many villas within the walls of Rome, and they appear to have 

 been almost as numerous as those without the walls, the Villa Medici 

 held a very high position, not only on account of its situation, which 

 was perhaps the finest in Rome, but owing to the great charm of its 

 garden and palace and the important works of art that at one time 

 found a place within its bounds, scattered about its gardens or beneath 

 the shelter of its toggle. Of these there still remain sufficient to giYt to 

 it more than ordinary interest. 



Situated beyond the Church of Trinita de' Monti, on the higher'' 

 part of Mte. Pincio, from earliest times a favourite site, it occupies one 

 of the most agreeable and salubrious positions within the walls of Rome. 

 On this hill, called by the ancients " Collis Hortorum," were situated 

 the famous ga,rdens of LucuUus, the wealthy and luxurious. These 

 gardens were of the utmost beauty and magnificence, and were adorned 

 with many valuable statues and works of art. 



A portion of this site, with the Aqua Virgo flowing beneath it, the 

 Villa Medici is supposed to cover. It overlooks that part of the city 

 which was once the Campus Martins, towards the Vatican Palace and 

 gardens, St. Peter's, the Janiculum and Vatican Hills, with Mte. Mario 

 to the right. Begun towards the middle of the sixteenth century from 

 designs of Annibale Lippi, for Giovanni Ricci of Mte. Pulciano whom 

 Pope Julius III. made a Cardinal in 1 551, it passed shortly after- 

 wards into the hands of Cardinal Ferdinando Medici, son of Cosmo I., ' 

 who succeeded his brother Francis as third Grand Duke of Tuscany, 

 whom he is credited with having poisoned. 



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