screen surmounted by a wide broken pediment. Niches and pilasters, 

 entablature and curving pediment are all encrusted with a rude mosaic 

 of coloured stones and marble. At the ends of the court are other 

 niches provided with fountain basins, and doubtless at one time a 

 delightful box-garden, with simple flowers and orange trees, occupied 

 the space now given up to a somewhat uninviting jumble of shrubby 

 plants and half-starved palms. 



In order to gain some perception of what a city garden could be in 

 the halcyon days of Florence, we must turn to the pages of Bocchi. 

 Writing about the middle of the sixteenth century, he gives in Le 

 Bellezze della Citta dt Fiorenza a delightful picture ot the gardens 

 attached to one of the Acciaiuoli palaces in the Borgo S.S. Apostoli. 

 " Besides this there is a garden on strong arches about fifteen cubits 

 high, in a street close to the Arno and looking due south, where the air 

 is soft and pleasant. There in pots and on espaliers are such delightful 

 greenery and fruits, such as lemons and pomegranates, that although the 

 space is not really large, yet the delight it gives is so great that it 

 appears so. Above this and behind, rising yet higher, is another terrace 

 filled with similar trees ; it is marvellous to see the quantity of fruit 

 produced and what good condition it is in. Above, and still further 

 back is yet another terrace, more than thirty cubits from the ground 

 and the view thence is so beautiful that the soul is rejoiced ; vvherever a 

 man turns he enjoys the sweet air, full of the perfume of fruit and of 

 flowers which are ever abundant according to their season. Water is 

 lifted by ingenious devices from below up to the third-floor garden, so 

 that the moisture when dried up by the heat can be quickly restored. 

 In the lower garden is a beautiful fountain of Carrara marble ornamented 

 with lovely statues. A room, of large dimensions, opens on to this 

 garden, with a fine ceiling and more than thirty portraits of the 

 principal ladies of our city, who are famed for their beauty." 



On the other side of the Arno, between the river and the Porta 

 S. Giorgio, where there is more breathing space, many a charming 

 garden is still to be found, often clinging in precarious fashion to the 

 hill-side. One quite ideal little garden overhangs the Via dei Bardi, and 

 is entered through a loggia (now enclosed) from the first floor of one of 



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