The ground between the present carriage way and the foot of the 

 cascade, now occupied by boschetti of ilex, then sloped steeply and was only 

 slightly terraced. The gardens were laid out in rectangular plots with 

 fountains, statues, and terminal figures ; while in the centre of the upper 

 section was a circular arbour or cabinet, which probably sheltered a 

 fountain, a device commonly used by the older gardeners. At the foot 

 of the cascade were two shallow terraces protected by balustrades, and all 

 seems to have been of the simplest order, as was usual in the earlier 

 gardens. 



Shortly afterwards, however, Domenico Fontana, a brother of 

 Giovanni, appears upon the scene. At his suggestion the ground was 

 excavated and brought up to a level with the first floor, the piano nobile, 

 at the rear of the palace. The terrace wall, with its accompanying 

 niches and fountains, was built below the cascade, and probably to the 

 same period belongs the magnificent series of stairways arranged to mask 

 the great terrace wall at the lower side. One cannot but experience a 

 feeling of regret at the destruction of the old parterre, especially as 

 nothing of the kind seems to have been provided in the later 

 arrangement. 



Though the grounds were now considerably enlarged, the newly 

 levelled portion was chiefly given up to a wood or bosco laid out with 

 broad straight drives. As in many another villa, this may originally 

 have been arranged with plots, surrounded by cut ilex hedges ; but the 

 trees have far outgrown the original intention, and are now so ancient and 

 venerable that all appearance of formality has departed. The grey-green 

 branches meet overhead, casting a grateful shade over the moss-grown 

 walks. At the intersection of the chief pathways are placed circular 

 pedestal fountains, of delightful design and equally charming colour, 

 whose jets play high up among the branches, and one of which still 

 bears the inscription, GREG : XIII PONT : MAX : 



The central alley leads to a wide piazza among the trees, the farther 

 side of which is entirely occupied by the so-called Girandola, a series 

 of fountain niches which line a terrace wall some hundred yards in 

 length. A channel six feet wide, into which the fountains discharge, 

 runs at its foot. In the middle this widens out into a large semicircular 



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