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ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
Poggio Gherardo and Villa Palmieri, near his home at 
Settignano. In the introduction to the Decamerone , he 
tells us how Pampinea led her joyous troop up the 
little hill, far from the dusty highway, to a fair palace 
surrounded by green lawns and spacious gardens, all 
neatly kept, and full of such flowers as belonged to 
the season. “ Here,” she said, “ it is good and 
pleasant to stay,” and Filomena crowned her brow 
with green laurel leaves, while a table decked with the 
whitest of linen cloths, with boughs of yellow broom 
and silver vessels, was set out in the court. On Sun¬ 
day mornings the fair ladies descended from the 
heights, and the Queen led the way along an un¬ 
frequented lane, where some twenty nightingales sang, 
and herbs and flowers were just opening to the rising 
sun, to the Villa Schifanoia (Sans-Souci), afterwards 
known as Villa Palmieri. Here they wondered at the 
beauty of the gardens, at the broad alleys shaded by 
pergolas, laden with purple grapes, and bordered with 
red and white roses and jessamine, “ that filled the air 
with sweet scents and shut out the rays of the sun, not 
only in the morning, but at noonday, so that one 
could always walk there without fear.” More delight¬ 
ful than all was the lawn of the finest and greenest 
grass, spangled with a thousand flowers and surrounded 
by orange and citron trees, bearing ripe fruit and 
blossoms at the same time. In the centre stood a 
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