THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 
187 
CHAPTER XVII. 
THE TIVOLI FALLS, THE VILLA D’ESTE AND HADRIAN’S VILLA. 
N O illustration can convey the effect of the clouds of vapour floating away from the 
falling streams of water, as they descend to immense depths down rocks sheer as a 
wall and clothed in sombre vegetation. The sun’s rays transform the white wreaths 
with marvellous rainbow colour effects — green, purple, blue and orange, vivid in 
contrast with the darker hues of the foliage around. The old Roman temple, that dates from the 
last days of the Republic, is built in golden brown tufa on a high, rocky base that gives proportion 
and grace to its sturdy structure. Gracefully ringed with solid-looking columns, it is a veritable 
triumph of architecture. The bare surrounding hills dotted with trees reach up to a sky of 
clearest blue. The vivid wallflower lodging in the cranny is Nature’s point of extreme colour 
in a picture that contains every element of charm. Suffused with impalpable moisture, the 
clear freshness of the mountain air produces a curious sensation of cold that mitigates the growing 
warmth and brilliance of the sunshine. In this landscape the creamy grey walls and brown 
roofs, spotted with golden lichen, of the Italian villa architecture are as right as the stronger 
hues of English cottages on the Surrey hills. Slender campanilli and the more solid, raised 
193. — THE FALLS OF THE TIVOLI AND VESTA’s TEMPLE. 
