126 
THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 
places they seemed like a forest of marble,” There are, in fact, one hundred and fortv-four. 
The noble portico is composed of thirty-six large columns of Oriental granite and forty small 
ones, beautifully polished. Another writer says that Albani’s nobilitv of soul made him so 
beloved that he was often given, or helped to find, things that might otherwise have escaped him. 
Immediately within the entrance we come upon a series of box avenues, all converging towards a 
circle formed by eleven splendid pines, which stand round a space in the middle of W'hich rises 
an antique obelisk as the central feature. .About it there is a curious story. It belonged to the 
Prince ot Palestrina, who refused to sell it to the Cardinal at any price. Shortly after the Prince went 
on a journey, whereupon the Cardinal sent a large body of men, w'ho entered the garden by 
force, bore off the obelisk, and erected it in the gardens of the Villa Albani. As the Cardinal 
was excessively pow'erful in Rome, the Prince did not dare to bring an action against him, but 
made a joke of the whole affair, complimenting him on his exploit and remaining upon friendly 
terms with him. It is now surmounted by the mount and star of the .Albani family, and stands 
135. — VILL.V .'\LB.VNI : THE E.A.ST TERRACE. 
out beautifully against a group of cypresses with a further background of deep blue mountains. 
Close-cut hedges of cypress, set with busts and terminal figures, screen the approach to the 
great formal garden which lies in front of the villa. The casino opposite is ablaze with masses 
of azaleas. “ It is roses, roses all the way” in the long flower-beds, which'are flanked bv pots 
of lemon and orange trees. Noble fountains make a centre here and there. .A river god 
reclines under a portico, for which the original drawing of Marchionni exists in an old book on 
the table within the house. In one of his letters Winckelmann says : “ The Cardinal has brought 
from Tivoli on a carro drawm by sixteen bullocks a female river deity of colossal size, well pre- 
served,” and here, sure enough, she is, reclining on the edge of a marble reservoir. “ I write 
from our villa, which grows more beautiful every day,” he says ; “ one of the last acquisitions 
is a colossal head of Trajan, in perfect preservation except the nose.” The nose has been 
restored, and the colossal bust looms from a bowser of honeysuckle. ” The Cardinal has just 
brought to his villa the few last of the best statues left in the Villa d’Este, at Tivoli.” 
