ITALIAN VILLAS 
and windows set far apart on massive consoles, show its 
direct descent from the severe and sober school of six- 
teenth-century architects who produced such noble 
examples of the great Tuscan villa as I Collazzi and 
Fonte all’ Erta. Nevertheless, so well proportioned is 
its elevation that there is no sense of heaviness, and the 
solidity of the main building is relieved by a kind of 
flying arcade at each end, one of which connects the 
house with its chapel, while the other, by means of a 
spiral stairway in a pier of the arcade, leads from the 
first floor to what was once the old fish-pond and herb- 
garden. This garden, an oblong piece of ground, a 
few years ago had in its centre a round fish-pond, sur- 
rounded by symmetrical plots planted with roses and 
vegetables, and in general design had probably been 
little changed since the construction of the villa. It has 
now been remodelled on an elaborate plan, which has the 
disadvantage of being unrelated in style to its surround- 
ings ; but fortunately no other change has been made in 
the plan and planting of the grounds. 
Before the facade of the house a grassy terrace 
bounded by a low wall, set alternately with stone vases 
and solemn-looking stone dogs, overhangs the vine- 
yards and fields, which, as in all unaltered Tuscan 
country places, come up close to the house. Behind 
the villa, and running parallel with it, is a long grass 
alley or bowling-green, flanked for part of its length by 
a lofty retaining-wall set with statues, and for the 
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