ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
went to his grave unwept, and Pope Clement the Eighth, 
who took possession of his duchy, destroyed the 
wonderful palace of Belvedere to build a fortress, in 
order that he might maintain his rule over Ferrara. 
The poets and humanists who flourished under the 
shadow of the house of Este shared their patrons’ love 
of gardens. Guarino, who came to Ferrara as Leonello’s 
tutor in 1429, and taught at the University for thirty 
years, was never happier than when he could escape 
from the lecture-room to his villa on the Adige. Here 
he cultivated his flowers and read the Georgies in the 
pasture among his flocks, while his energetic wife, 
Taddea, the mother of twenty-three children, herself 
worked in the fields. Under this humble roof old 
friends and young students were always welcome, and 
many distinguished scholars came to share the great 
teacher’s frugal meal and enjoy what he called his “fave 
e favole ”—“ beans and talk.” Angelo Decembrio tells 
us how the chief magistrate Gualengo would invite 
Leonello and his scholar friends to taste the first ripe 
figs in his garden and decorate his library with white 
and purple iris in honour of their visit. And we think 
of Matteo Boiardo, the poet of the Orlando Tnnamorato , 
spending the pleasant May-time in the meadows and 
woods along the Secchia, composing pastorals in imita¬ 
tion of Virgil and addressing love songs to the mistress 
whose golden tresses kept him bound to these rural 
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