THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 
79 
CHAPTER VIE 
GARDENS OF THE QUIRINAL, AND SOME STREET 
FOUNTAINS IN ROME. 
T he long, central garden, of which passers-by can catch a glimpse beyond the guarded 
gates, runs the whole width of the grounds, and is flanked on either side by towering 
walls of close-clipped box and bay. These must be at least thirty feet high and of 
great width, with shady roads cut within them. Huge old ilex trees grow at intervals 
and throw their distorted black arms in all directions. These are more than three hundred 
years old, and are part of the garden which was 
originally planted here by Ippolito, Cardinal of Este, 
adjoining his town house ; his country seat being 
the famous Villa d’Este at Tivoli. These long and 
lofty bocages map out the garden, and between 
their ranks are lawns and parterres and the most 
goodly show of palm trees to be seen anywhere in 
Italy, unless it may be in Villa Pamphilj Doria. The 
larger ones would take two men to clasp their trunks. 
The garden is full of old Roman and Renaissance 
remains — sarcophagi, garden figures and vases. 
A great part of the garden has been turned into a 
riding-ground, which, of course, cannot be anything 
but unsightly. Looking upon this is the palaszina 
in which are the apartments occupied by the Royal 
Familv, at the opposite end of the garden from the 
palace proper. 
It is absolutely quiet in the Royal garden. 
Nothing can be heard to tell us that we are in the 
very heart of a great capital. The distant chime 
of bells, the twittering of birds are the only sounds 
that reach our ears. A charming little parterre runs 
along the terrace which overlooks the distant town, 
and is fenced in by rose hedges on one side while 
on the other are masses of sweet peas trained to 
make a thick wall of shaded colour. From the 
terrace, on which are groups of garden statuary, 
the view extends over Rome, with St. Peter’s 
towering on the Vatican hill and the fortress of 
Monte Mario rising to the west. Lean over the 
balustrade and the remains of a huge grotto niav 
be seen in the courtvard below, with an organ 
fountain, evidently a relic of the old pleasure-ground 
of Cardinal d’Este, recalling as it does the splendid 
structure with which he decorated the slopes of Tivoli. 
Felice Peretti, after he had quarrelled with all 90.— quirtnal : plan of the palace. 
the monks of Naples, in the sixteenth centurv, monte cavallo, rome. 
