ITALIAN GARDENS OF 
THE RENAISSANCE 
THE GARDENS OF FLORENTINE 
HUMANISTS 
“ I’ mi trovai, fanciulle, un bel mattino 
Di mezzo Maggio, in un verde giardino.” 
Angelo Poliziano. 
The Italian humanists of the Renaissance, like the 
citizens of Utopia, set great store by their gardens. 
The newly awakened delight in the beauty of nature 
and the passionate interest in classical antiquity which 
marked the age, early led scholars to follow the 
example of the ancient Romans in this respect. They 
read Quintilian and Varro, pondered over the pages 
of Pliny and Columella, and turned their thoughts 
once more to the long-lost art of gardening. In 
Bacon’s famous phrase, “ they began first to build 
stately, then to garden finely.” 
The love of fresh air and sunshine, the spirit of 
independence, and taste for roving soon caused men 
and women to seek the countryside. Tuscan poets 
took up the strain and sang the joys of the open road 
