286 
THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 
and Clement VII all figure in notable scenes, but most of all the reeeption of Francis I of 
France by Leo X makes a special appeal to the historic sense. It witnesses the contact of 
the North of Europe with the reviving glories of the Renaissance in the South, and recalls 
to the mind all that followed from that dramatic encounter. 
In the small, square vaulted and frescoed chapel upstairs is an altar-piece by Andrea del 
Sarto. Fhe Rubens tapestries in the Sala di Pranzo and the Genoa velvet hangings are fine 
pieces of colour. In the corridor are a collection of native Chinese pictures, given to Cosimo II 
by the Sultan of Egypt. One in particular, a long detail drawing of old Canton, is of great 
interest. Of the date of 1500 there is a huge white glazed wine jar covered with green vine 
leaves, quite a unique example. 
The architect of the Villa Petraja, Buontalenti (1536—1608), remodelled it for Cardinal 
Ferdinando de Medici in 1575. It had been a castle, and was the property of the Brunelleschi 
in the fourteenth century. Of old trees there is one no less than four hundred years old, a holm 
oak. The gardens form a fine setting to the house with their upper and lower terraces, below 
which again is a great semicircular sweep, with central fountain and flower beds enclosed in 
bo.x-edged patterns. 
'Phere are two staircases 
from the upper to the 
lower terrace, with 
between them a sheet 
of water nearlv as long 
as the house itself. 
The upper terrace is 
distinguished by two 
massive old trees at one 
end, while at the other 
is the lovely fountain 
by Tribolo and Giovanni 
da Bologna, for which 
the villa is famous. 
From the terraces the 
view in front is held by a 
complete circuit of hills ; 
Florence, traced by its 
dome, is visible on the 
left behind a line of 
299. — VILL.\ MEDICEA DI CAREGGI : THE GARDEN. cypress trees. Petraja is 
an enchanting spot, 
and the house in its Tuscan modesty of style and colouring sits at ease in its 
surroundings. 
The Villa Medicea Careggi* (Fig. 299), two miles north-west of Florence, lies on Montughi, 
so called after the family of Ughi, at the foot of the main hills, one hundred and fiftv feet below 
Petraja, Careggi is from Campus Regis. There are Roman remains near by, and the Via 
Cassia from Rome to Pistoia and Lucca passed that way. It was the property of the Grand 
Dukes down to 1779. Castle-like in appearance, its present form is due to Michelozzo, who 
reconstructed it for Cosimo the elder, some time about 1433, on the lines of the castle of 
Trebbio in the Mugello. With Cosimo and Lorenzo the Magnificent it was a favourite 
residence, and they both died here, Cosimo the elder on August 1st, 1464, and his son Piero 
five years later. When Lorenzo in his turn came to his death-bed at this villa, Savonarola 
was sent for, and the famous demand for the restoration of the liberties of Florence is alleged 
to have been made here by him as the price of absolution. Lorenzo’s bedroom and study 
• This villa has been through repeated changes of ownership. The Corsiiii enlarged and altered it. probably from 
designs by Antonio Ferri. It is in the baroco style, and has a large square court in the centre. 
