GENOESE VILLAS 
garden and vineyard. A fine road crosses the Bisagno 
and leads up between high walls and beautiful hanging 
gardens, passing at every turn some charming villa- 
fagade in its setting of cypresses and camellias. Among 
these, one should not overlook the exquisite little Para- 
disino, a pale-green toy villa with Ionic pilasters and 
classic pediment, perched above a high terrace on the 
left of the ascent. 
just above stands the Paradiso (or Villa Cambiaso), 
another masterpiece of Alessi’s, 1 to which it is almost 
impossible to obtain admission. Unfortunately, the 
house stands far back from the road, above intervening 
terraces and groves, and one can obtain only an imper- 
fect glimpse of its beautiful facade, which is as ornate 
and imposing as that of the Villa Scassi, and of garden- 
walks lined with clipped hedges and statues. 
At Alessi's other Villa Cambiaso, higher up the hill 
of San Francesco d’Albaro, a more hospitable welcome 
awaits the sight-seer. Here admission is easily obtained, 
and it is possible to study and photograph at leisure. 
This villa is remarkable for the beauty of the central 
loggia on the ground floor of the fagade : a grand 
Doric arcade, leading into a two-storied atrium de- 
signed in the severest classical spirit. So suggestive is 
this of the great loggia of the Villa Bombicci, near Flor- 
ence, that one understands why Alessi was called the 
1 In his “ Baukunst der Renaissance in Italien ” (Part II, Vol. V) Dr. Josef 
Durrn, without citing his authority, says that the Villa Paradiso was built in 
1600 by Andrea Ceresola, called Vanove. 
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