236 
THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 
CHAPTER XIX. 
THE VILLA LANTE, BAGNAIA. 
I P is a question whether the Villa Lante at Bagnaia is not the gem of all the Italian gardens. 
If so, it owes its pride of place to that quality which Hamlet commended in the actor, 
artistic reserve, “ that you o’er-step not the modesty of nature.” It is a reticent and refined 
piece of work when contrasted with the prouder works of the later Renaissance. Its architect 
remembered that his garden was to be made for man, whose size, for all his ambition, is unalterable. 
It will not be disputed 
that the reasonable scale 
of this villa garden is 
one of its pleasantest 
features. It is an ideal 
spot in which to spend 
an Italian afternoon. 
The easy driving dis- 
tance from Viterbo 
renders the Villa Lante 
very accessible. The 
jolly Church of Santa 
Maria della Quercia, of 
about the same epoch 
(1470-1525), is just 
over a mile outside the 
Porta Fiorentia of that 
delightful mediaeval 
city. It contains the 
work of Andrea della 
Robbia and Antonio da 
Sangallo the younger. 
That Vignola (1507-73) 
w'as the architect of the 
Villa Lante during the 
period of 1564, when 
it w’as enlarged, seems 
established. Caprarola, 
which is within fifteen 
miles, was in hand from 
1547 to 1559. The 
Villa Lante was com- 
pleted in 158S. In 
spite of his writings and 
works, Vignola seems 
one of the most distant 
of the great architects 
246. -CARDINAL MONTALTO’s FOUNTAIN AT VILLA LANTE, BAGNAIA. of the Renaissance, and 
