324 
VILLA DEI COLLAZZI A\D VILLA GAMBERAIA. 
From a broken shield dug up in 1900, inscribed “ Zenobius Lapins Fundavit, M.D.C.X.,” 
it seems probable that the villa was erected for the Lapi familv. The name of the architect 
is not forthcoming, but there are an elegance and a simplicitv in the arrangement of the small 
courtyard, with an arcade in the centre of the house from which the vaulted rooms open, which 
indicate some very capable master of the late Renaissance, perhaps Ammanati, or one of his 
pupils. On two sides of this court are flying balconies supported on three arches. Numerous 
contracts and lawsuits exist connected with the water supplv for the fountains. In 1619 
Zenobi Lapi died, leaving the property to two nephews, Jacono di Andrea Lapi and Andrea 
di Cosimo Lapi, and failing heirs from them it was to be divided between the Capponi 
and Cerretani families. In 1624 Jacopo died, leaving a young son. His uncle, “ The 
most illustrious Signore Cosimo Lapi, a noble Florentine,” laid out the inlaid grottoes, 
and developed a perfect passion for making fountains and jeux d'eaux. In 1636 one 
poor lady, a Signora Aurelia, brings an action against him, complaining that he has cut off 
necessarv water from her villa by the reservoirs which he has made. Not unnaturally, he left his 
property much in debt, and when his nephew, Andrea, died in 1688, the estate was heavily 
mortgaged. Andrea's son, another Jacopo, died in 1717 without heirs male, and the Capponi 
and Cerretani dividing the Lapi propertv, Gamberaia fell to the former. It is to Andrea, without 
doubt, that we owe the bowling green, the dark cypresses and the stone statues. The old villa 
has changed hands many times since then, and was even at one time let out in lodgings for the 
summer. Fortunately, it has never been spoilt, and it now belongs to two ladies. Both 
are artists, and in their hands the villa becomes every year more beautiful. E. M. P. 
336. -THE W.VY OUT, 
