The Italian Formal Garden 
Lante, at B&gnaia, near Viterbo, the work of Vignola, or Pirro 
Ligorio’s Villa Pia in the Vatican grounds, at Rome—com¬ 
prises a rectangular territory of a few acres, rarely more than 
ten or fifteen, its length twice or thrice its breadth, and the 
major axis following the profile or slope of the hill on which it 
is laid out. It is divided into three terraces (rarely two or four), 
each faced by a stone retaining-wall, surmounted by a balus¬ 
trade, and reached by broad stairways leading to the other 
levels. The lower level, entered from the street by a somewhat 
pretentious gateway, is the flower-garden proper; on the middle 
level is the house or casino, with the more important architec¬ 
tural accessories, such as colonnades, loggias, and summer 
houses. Behind and above this, the third level, planted with 
trees, and less formally treated than the other two, furnishes a 
shady and secluded retreat, grassy under foot, leafy overhead, 
musical with the song of birds and the trickle of water in the 
Cascade of Hercules 
“DECORATIVE AND FESTAL CHARACTER” 
At the Villa d’Este on Lake Como 
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