ITALIAN VILLAS 
the new fashion early in the nineteenth century, as is 
shown — to give but one instance — in the vast Torri- 
giani gardens, near the Porta Romana, laid out by the 
Marchese Torrigiani about 1830 in the most approved 
“landscape” style, with an almost complete neglect of 
the characteristic Tuscan vegetation and a correspond- 
ing disregard of Italian climate and habits. The large 
English colony has, however, undoubtedly done much 
to encourage, even in the present day, the alteration of 
the old gardens and the introduction of alien vegetation 
in those which have been partly preserved. It is, for 
instance, typical of the old Tuscan villa that the farm, 
or ftodere , should come up to the edge of the terrace on 
which the house stands ; but in most cases where old 
villas have been bought by foreigners, the vineyards 
and olive-orchards near the house have been turned 
into lawns dotted with plantations of exotic trees. 
Under these circumstances it is not surprising that but 
few unaltered gardens are to be found near Florence. 
To learn what the old Tuscan garden was, one must 
search the environs of the smaller towns, and there are 
more interesting examples about Siena than in the whole 
circuit of the Florentine hills. 
The old Italian architects distinguished two classes 
of country houses : the villa suburbana, or maison de 
plaisance (literally the pleasure-house), standing within 
or just without the city walls, surrounded by pleasure- 
grounds and built for a few weeks’ residence ; and the 
22 
