ROMAN VILLAS 
and picturesqueness which disarm criticism. Above all, 
it is felt at once that the arrangement is perfectly suited 
to a warm climate. The villa forms a semicircle at the 
back, enclosing a paved court. The ground floor is an 
open vaulted arcade, adorned with Zucchero’s celebrated 
frescoes of putti peeping through vine-wreathed trel- 
lises ; and the sides of the court, beyond this arcade, are 
bounded by two-storied lateral wings, with blind arcades 
and niches adorned with statues. Facing the villa, a 
colonnaded loggia terminates the court ; and thence one 
looks down into the beautiful lower court of the bath, 
which appears to have been designed by Vasari. From 
the loggia, steps descend to a semicircular court enclosed 
in walls, with a balustraded opening in its centre ; and 
this balustrade rests on a row of caryatids which encircle 
the lowest court and form a screen before the grotto-like 
bath under the arches of the upper terrace. The plan is 
too complicated, and the architectural motives are too 
varied, to admit of clear description : both must be seen 
to give an idea of the full beauty of the composition. 
Returning to the upper loggia above the bath, one looks 
across the latter to a corresponding loggia of three arches 
on the opposite side, on the axis of which is a gateway 
leading to the actual gardens — gardens which, alas ! no 
longer exist. It will thus be seen that the flagged court, 
the two open loggias, and the bath are so many skilfully 
graduated steps in what Percier and Fontaine call the 
“ artistic progression ” linking the gardens to the house, 
85 
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