THE GARDEXS OF ITALY 
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CHAPTER XXV. 
VILLA DEI COLLAZZI, TAVARNUZZI, AND VILLA GAMBERAIA, 
ELORENCE. 
S OME three miles south of Florence, beyond the winding River Greve, which here skirts 
round three sides of the Certosa, high embanked on a spur of the hills and close set 
about with tall cypresses, a rough hill road between walls leads still upwards to one of 
the most interesting of the Florentine villas. It was built by Messer Agostino Dini 
on the site of the old Castle Buondelmonti, of which no trace remains. Whether or not 
Michelangelo here set his hand to a bold conception of villa architecture, the architect visitor 
is likely to endorse the verdict of the late Baron Geymuller, that of all the houses shown to 
him as the work of Michelangelo this was the one which seemed most probable. It is 
the completeness of the idea and the largeness and perfection of the scale which produce 
the effect. The severity of the true Florentine style here maintained does not argue in favour 
316. — VILLA DLI COLL.AZZI ; THE CHAPEL. 
