274 
THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 
CHAPTER XXII. 
POGGIO GAJANO, GASTELLO AND PETRAJA AND VILLA 
MEDIGEA CAREGGI, FLORENCE. 
B y white and dusty roads bordered with fields set out in oblongs, by lines of 
pollarded trees and irrigation ditches, insets alternately cultivated, gay and bright 
with mustard flower and green grass or dull with brown earth where no crop 
has yet appeared — such is the scene through which the hurrying steam tram takes 
the visitor out to the pleasant retreat of Poggio Cajano. Lying ten miles out to the 
west of the city, the 
walled enclosure of 
the villa lies, like a 
Roman camp, at the head 
of the rising street of 
the little village, just 
where the ground falls 
again with a descent 
to the open country. 
The river was crossed 
just before the village 
was reached, and 
facing the villa at no 
great distance is the 
Alban mountain chain, 
so that the spot was 
chosen with a keen eye 
for all the advantages of 
situation. Lorenzo 
Medici, il Magnifico, 
bought the castle and 
estate from the Cancel- 
lieri family of Pistoia, 
and employed Giuliano 
da San Gallo to build 
the new villa on the 
foundations of the old 
castle. Charles V, on 
the occasion of his visit 
in May, 1536, remarked 
on the fortress character 
of Poggio Cajano. 
The front curtain wall 
of the villa is, as it were, 
defended by two raised 
end pavilions, one of 
which is a chapel and the 
286.- 
ENTRANCE TO THE GROTTO UNDER THE TERRACE PLATEAU OF 
THE VILLA POGGIO CAJANO. 
