VILLAS NEAR ROME 
famous than the foregoing, but even more full of a 
romantic charm. One is the Villa Muti, a mile or two 
beyond the town, on the way to Grotta Ferrata. From 
the gate three ancient ilex avenues lead to the villa, the 
central one being on the axis of the lowest garden. The 
ground rises gradually toward the house, and the space 
between the ilex avenues was probably once planted in 
formal boschi, as fragments of statuary are still seen 
among the trees. The house, set against the hillside, 
with the usual fortress-like basement, is two stories 
lower toward the basse-cour than toward the gardens. 
The avenue to the left of the entrance leads to a small 
garden, probably once a court, in front of the villa, 
whence one looks down over a mighty retaining-wall at 
the basse-cour on the left. On the right, divided from 
the court by a low wall surmounted by vases, lies the 
most beautiful box-garden in Italy, laid out in an elab- 
orate geometrical design, and enclosed on three sides by 
high clipped walls of box and laurel, and on the fourth 
by a retaining-wall which sustains an upper garden. 
Nothing can surpass the hushed and tranquil beauty of 
the scene. There are no flowers or bright colours— only 
the contrasted tints of box and ilex and laurel, and the 
vivid green of the moss spreading over damp paths and 
ancient stonework. 
In the upper garden, which is of the same length but 
narrower, the box-parterres are repeated. This garden, 
at the end nearest the villa, has a narrow raised terrace, 
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