ITALIAN VILLAS 
dens almost invariably adjoins the house, has here been 
relegated to the hilltop, doubtless because the only level 
space near the palace was required for state ceremonials 
and theatrical entertainments rather than for private 
enjoyment. 
It is partly because the Boboli is a court-garden, and 
not designed for private use, that it is less interesting 
and instructive than many others of less importance. 
Yet the other Medicean villas near Florence, though 
designed on much simpler lines, have the same lack of 
personal charm. It is perhaps owing to the fact that 
Florence was so long under the dominion of one all- 
powerful family that there is so little variety in her 
pleasure-houses. Pratolino, Poggio a Caiano, Cafag- 
giuolo, Careggi, Castello and Petraia, one and all, 
whatever their origin, soon passed into the possessor- 
ship of the Medici, and thence into that of the Austrian 
grand dukes who succeeded them ; and of the three 
whose gardens have been partly preserved, Castello, 
Petraia and Poggio Imperiale, it may be said that they 
have the same impersonal official look as the Boboli. 
Castello and Petraia, situated a mile apart beyond the 
village of Quarto, were both built by Buontalenti, that 
brilliant pupil of Ammanati’s who had a share in the 
planning of the gardens behind the Pitti. Castello 
stands on level ground, and its severely plain facade, 
with windows on consoles and rusticated doorway, faces 
what is now a highway, though, according to the print 
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