GARDENS OF FLORENTINE HUMANISTS 
“ When the summer heat becomes too great at Car- 
eggi, do not fail to seek our Fiesolan villa. There is 
abundance of watei* here, and, as we are on the edge 
of a valley, but little sun, and the wind is certainly 
never lacking. The villa itself lies off the road, in 
a dense wood, but commands a view of the whole 
city, and although the district is thickly populated 
I enjoy that solitude dear to those who have fled 
from town. More than this, I have a double attraction 
to offer. Often Pico, appearing unexpectedly from 
his oak-woods, drags me out of these shades to share 
his supper. This, as you know, is frugal but sufficient, 
well seasoned with pleasant conversation and jests. 
But come and be my guest, and your supper shall be 
as good and your wine perhaps better. For in this 
I will venture to dispute the prize with Pico.” 1 
Lorenzo made many improvements in the gardens at 
Careggi, collecting all manner of rare plants and exotics 
and adorning them with fine bronzes, such as the 
superb statue of David and the beautiful fountain with 
the boy strangling a dolphin, by Andrea Verrocchio, 
which are now in Florence. Not content with the 
villas erected by Cosimo, in 1485 he employed Giuliano 
di Sangallo to build him a new country house at Poggio 
a Caiano, on the banks of the Ombrone, half-way 
between Florence and Pistoia. The grand double flight 
of steps leading to the upper loggia and the vaulted 
hall, which Vasari calls the loftiest he had ever seen, 
1 A. Poliziano, Opere, p. 135. 
17 B 
