172 
THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 
It is an interesting villa to visit, as the grand series of rooms is freely shown. The frescoes 
are late in date, and of that school which transforms the walls of an apartment into vistas of pro- 
jected architecture peopled with Signori and Signoras who promenade therein, while the artist 
himself sits on a balustrade and sketches the scene. The painter here is a figure in a blue coat 
and a red cocked hat, while beneath is inscribed : 
Ghezzius 
Hie Faciem 
Gestus se pinxit 
et artem 
Sod niagnus ingenium 
Pingere non potuit 
MDCCXXVII. 
The most interesting room is, perhaps, the last one on the left, which is what could be called 
to-day a palm court. It is the Camera del Primavera. Above walls of greenery a figure in the 
clouds throws down 
flowers to greet the spec- 
tator. There is a balcony 
from this room carried 
right round the end of 
this wing of the villa, 
from which a magnificent 
prospect is obtained. 
Immediately below' are 
extensive terrace plateaux 
formallv laid out w'ith two 
good basins of water. The 
back of the house is all 
rough. There is a central 
porch on to the terrace, 
which has a double line of 
trees, below which the 
ground falls rapidly away 
down the hill. From the 
forecourt a c o 1 u m n e d 
gateway in the wall on the 
right-hand side leads into 
a small enclosed yard with 
minor buildings, from 
which another and oppo- 
site gate, having dogs on 
the piers, leads out and 
up the winding slopes 
(Fig. 179). Imperceptibly 
passing round at the back 
of the house up to about 
the roof level of the villa, 
vou reach the famous 
lake-pond, surrounded by 
as our 
179.- 
-GATEW'AY IN THE FORECOURT W'ALL, VILLA FALCONIERI. 
tall cypress trees, one of the most characteristic of all the garden scenes in Italy, 
illustration (Fig. iSi) well shows. Preceding this lake is an enclosure, with a good water basm 
and a double stairway, which, however, is rather small in scale and somewhat modern in feeling 
(Fig. 181). In an apse is a kind of doorway, and an imitation rock recess serves as the final 
outlet of the water. Above a tufa doorway in the forecourt is a tablet ; 
lloratius Falconerius 
A.D. I555- 
Rupe sub Hac, Vaga lymplia fui hinc siomine sed nunc, Rufina e domini lumune lympha Micur. ^ 
Ille Eternim sparsos lattices collegit et undas auxit et extructo fomice clausit aquas. i . H. 
