Maggiore, few have gardens that are in any degree satisfactory ; they 

 are almost without exception what are called landscape gardens. This is 

 equivalent to saying that a piece of ground, naturally interesting 

 and picturesque, has had all the better trees carefully eliminated, 

 their place being taken by others which are both inappropriate and 

 unpicturesque. 



One of the rare exceptions is the garden on the Isola Bella — a 

 garden which has had a quite unreasonable amount of abuse lavished 

 upon it, especially of recent years. No one would dream of comparing 

 it with the best gardens of the cinque-cento ; but it possesses features 

 which are so good that one can well afford to overlook the less admirable 

 parts. 



The Isola Bella, formerly a bare, rocky island, was converted into a 

 garden, during the first half of the seventeenth century, by Conte Carlo 

 Borromeo and his successor. Terrace rises above terrace to a height of 

 some hundred feet above the surface of the lake ; several of these 

 terraces are carried upon arches, and all are fringed with balustrades, 

 vases, statues, and tall obelisks. The uppermost terrace, about forty- 

 five paces long, covers the great cistern which supplies the various 

 fountains and giuochi d'acque. At one extremity of the island, two 

 octagonal garden pavilions rise from the water's edge, flanked by stair- 

 ways, and, with the picturesque mingling of statues and flowering plants, 

 make a delightful picture as seen from the lake. Certain features of 

 these gardens are in decidedly poor taste, such as the rocaille theatre d'eaUy 

 with its three tiers of grotto niches filled with statues and great shells ; 

 yet this has all the appearance of a much later addition, and bears no 

 relation to the better work found elsewhere in the gardens. 



In quite a different style from the Isola Bella is the little monastery 

 garden of La Badia. It lies in an out-of-the-way corner of the lake, 

 high up among the chestnuts and beeches, surrounded by its own 

 orchards and vineyards. The little old monastery, now deserted b"y the 

 monks, is built round a cloister court, its centre marked by an artless 

 fountain, which throws a sparkling jet of water high in air. 



On this steep slope there is little space for gardens ; a narrow terrace 

 or two shaded by vine pergole, and a small rectangular plot at one end of 



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