LOMBARD VILLAS 
as a winter shelter for the lemon-trees of the upper gar» 
dens. Each terrace is enclosed in a marble balustrade, 
richly ornamented with vases, statues and obelisks, and 
planted with a profusion of roses, camellias, jasmine, 
myrtle and pomegranate, among which groups of 
cypresses lift their dark shafts. Against the retaining- 
walls oranges and lemons are espaliered, and flowers 
border every path and wreathe every balustrade and 
stairway. It seems probable, from the old descriptions 
of the Isola Bella, that it was originally planted much as 
it now appears ; in fact, the gardens of the Italian lakes 
are probably the only old pleasure-grounds of Italy 
where flowers have always been used in profusion. In 
the equable lake climate, neither cold in winter, like the 
Lombard plains, nor parched in summer, like the South, 
the passion for horticulture seems to have developed 
early, and the landscape-architect was accustomed to 
mingle bright colours with his architectural masses, in- 
stead of relying on a setting of uniform verdure. 
The topmost terrace of the Isola Bella is crowned 
by a mount, against which is built a water-theatre of 
excessively baroque design. This architectural compo- 
sition faces the southern front of the palace, a large and 
not very interesting building standing to the north of 
the gardens ; while the southern extremity of the island 
terminates in a beautiful garden-pavilion, hexagonal in 
shape, with rusticated coigns and a crowning balustrade 
beset with statues. Even the narrow reef projecting 
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