ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
lishment of this his city of Ferrara and the building of 
new palaces.” 1 
The excellent Duchess Leonora, born and bred in 
the sunny gardens of Naples, shared her lord’s tastes 
and took especial delight in beautifying the grounds of 
the Castello, now the chief ducal residence. On the 
banks of the moat, close to the Gate of the Lions, was 
the Garden of the Padiglione, so called from the marble 
pavilion supported by pillars which stood on a mount 
planted with pergolas of vines and roses. Farther west¬ 
ward was the Duchess’s Casino, with its marble baths j 
and halls painted by Ercole Roberti, standing in a par¬ 
terre of flowers set round with thick box hedges. Here 
was the beautiful fountain adorned with richly carved 
marbles upon which Duke Ercole had bestowed infinite 
thought and pains. He even wrote to ask Count 
Matteo Boiardo for his advice on the subject, but the 
poet replied that his wife was ill and his imagination ill- 
disposed for such matters and could only refer him to 
Alberti’s Trattato} Here, too, under the city walls, 
were the kitchen gardens and orchards, a plantation of 
orange and lemon trees rarely seen in these parts, known 
as “ La Cedraia,” and a thick ilex-wood where nightin¬ 
gales sang on the summer nights and rare birds of 
bright plumage sought shelter in the shade. Ercole’s 
1 Frizzi, Storia di Ferrara, iv. 148. 
2 Lettere edite e inedite , N. Campanini, 393. 
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