The Italian Formal Garden 
AIR OF PLAYFUL CAPRICE' 
Fountain of the Goblet’ 
Villa Farnese at Caprarola 
Coming down to specific details, the following features 
deserve special attention : 
First, the terracing of the Italian gardens is worthy of care¬ 
ful study. Originating in the preference for sloping sites by 
means of which successive and differing prospects are secured 
from the various levels, without interference of one with the 
other, it became a means of admirable effects within the gar¬ 
den itself. With its stairs, niches, grottoes, pilasters and balus¬ 
trades, it was studied, proportioned and arranged with great 
care, and usually with great success. An instructive contrast 
in the treatment of the terraces appears between the abruptly 
sloping Villa d’Este at Tivoli, and the nearly level Villa Albani 
or the Quirinal Gardens at Rome. 
Secondly, the decorations of architecture and sculpture. 
The judicious arrangement, distribution, and scale and balance 
of the architecture have been noticed already, and its predomi¬ 
nantly decorative and festal character alluded to. This air of 
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