ITALIAN VILLAS 
to a garden of about the same dimensions, at the back 
of which is an arcaded loggia, also of brick and marble, 
exquisitely light and graceful in proportion, and fres- 
coed in the Raphaelesque manner with medallions and 
arabesques, fruit- garlands and brightly plumed birds. 
Adjoining this loggia is a small brick chapel, simple but 
elegant in design, with a frescoed interior also ascribed 
to Peruzzi, and still beautiful under its crude repainting. 
The garden itself is the real hortus inclusus of the 
mediaeval chronicler : a small patch of ground enclosed 
in the fortress walls, with box-edged plots, a central 
well and clipped shrubs. It is interesting as a reminder 
of what the mediaeval garden within the castle must have 
been, and its setting of Renaissance architecture makes 
it look like one of those little marble-walled pleasances, 
full of fruit and flowers, in the backgrounds of Gozzoli 
or Lorenzo di Credi. 
Several miles beyond Belcaro, in a pleasant valley 
among oak-wooded hills, lies the Marchese Chigi’s 
estate of Cetinale. A huge clipped ilex, one of the few 
examples of Dutch topiary work in Italy, stands at the 
angle of the road which leads to the gates. Across the 
highway, facing the courtyard entrance, is another gate, 
guarded by statues and leading to a long tapis vert 
which ascends between double rows of square-topped 
ilexes to a statue on the crest of the opposite slope. 
The villa looks out on this perspective, facing it across 
an oblong courtyard flanked by low outbuildings. The 
6 4 
