ITALIAN VILLAS 
and at the farther end a balustrade encloses this upper 
garden, and two flights of steps, with the usual central 
niche, lead to the next level. Here there is a much 
greater extent of ground, and the old formal lines have 
been broken up into the winding paths and shrubberies 
of a jardin anglais. Even here, however, traces of the ori- 
ginal plan may be discovered, and statues and fountains 
are scattered with charming effect among the irregular 
plantations, while paths between clipped walls of green 
lead to beautiful distant views of the sea and moun- 
tains. Specially interesting is the treatment of the 
lateral retaining-walls of the upper garden. In these 
immense ramparts of masonry have been cut tunnels 
decorated with shellwork and stucco ornament, which 
lead up by a succession of wide steps to the ground on 
a level with the house. One of these tunnels contains a 
series of pools of water, which finally pour into a stream 
winding through a romantic boschetto on a lower 
level. Here, as at the Villa Scassi, all the garden- 
architecture is pure and dignified in style, and there is 
great beauty in the broad and simple treatment of the 
upper terrace, with its canal and ilex-walks. 
From the terraces of the Villa Durazzo one looks 
forth over the hillside of San Francesco d’Albaro, the 
suburb which balances Sampierdarena on the east. 
Happily this charming district is still a fashionable 
villeggiatura, and the houses which Alessi built on its 
slopes stand above an almost unaltered landscape of 
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