FLORENTINE VILLAS 
garden-architecture. In general design and detail it 
belongs to the pure Renaissance, without trace of the 
heavy and fantastic barrochismo which, half a century 
later, began to disfigure such compositions in the villas 
near Rome. Indeed, comparison with the grotesque 
garden-architecture of the Villa d’Este at Tivoli, which 
is but little later in date, shows how long the Tuscan 
sense of proportion and refinement of taste resisted the 
ever-growing desire to astonish instead of charming the 
spectator. 
On each side of the amphitheatre, clipped ilex-walks 
climb the hill, coming out some distance above on a 
plateau containing the toy lake with its little island, the 
Isola Bella, which was once the pride of the Boboli 
garden. This portion of the grounds has been so 
stripped of its architectural adornments and of its sur- 
rounding vegetation that it is now merely forlorn ; and 
the same may be said of the little upper garden, reached 
by an imposing flight of steps and commanding a wide 
view over Florence. One must revert to the architect’s 
plan to see how admirably adapted it was to the difficul- 
ties of the site he had to deal with, and how skilfully he 
harmonized the dense shade of his ilex-groves with the 
great open spaces and pompous architectural effects 
necessary in a garden which was to form a worthy set- 
ting for the pageants of a Renaissance court. It is 
interesting to note in this connection that the flower- 
garden, or giardino segreto, which in Renaissance gar- 
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