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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



grounds of the former is a most beautiful fountain, surmounted by an 

 exceedingly fine bronze female figure representing Florence wringing 

 water from her hair (fig. 93). Another remarkably fine fountain is 

 found in the Villa Castello representing " The Wrestlers." Above this 

 fountain is a wide terrace and orange garden, and from it a glimpse of 

 the villa is obtained in the background. 



The Villa Boboli is one of the Royal Palaces, with an art gallery 

 attached to the Pitti Palace. The grounds are open to the public on 

 certain days. It stands on a rather steep hill commanding lovely views 

 of Florence with its Campanile and Duomo. A raised gallery or terrace 

 projects from the Palace towards the gardens on which is a beautiful 



Fig. 93. — Fountain at Villa Petbajl 



fountain (fig. 95). From this terrace the Royal party witnessed the games 

 in the fine amphitheatre in front. This is arranged in the usual style in 

 a semi-circle, with six tiers of stone seats, relieved at intervals with 

 statuary and backed up by masses of Italian cypress, giving a beautiful 

 setting to the statuary. In the centre of the lawn is a very fine porphyry 

 basin with an Egyptian obelisk. The large sloping area below the 

 amphitheatre is planted as a thicket of ilexes, amongst which are good 

 numbers of walks with the ilex foliage overhead, and through the centre 

 is a bold cypress avenue leading down to the "isolotto " or miniature lake. 

 A gateway terminates the avenue, having a fine pair of stone piers 

 surmounted by goats. 



The lakelet is surrounded by a broad flagged promenade, with many 

 stone seats and fine pieces of statuary. The island in the centre is 



