THE GARDENS OF PAPAL ROME 
he wrote to the Grand Duke Cosimo: “ Some day, if 
it please your Excellency, I will show you the designs 
which Bramante prepared for the lawns and fountains 
of Pope Giulio’s gardens, and which Raphael of Urbino 
afterwards imitated in the grounds that he laid out 
for Popes Leo and Clement. In these same Belvedere 
gardens I lived for many years myself.” And the 
sculptor proceeds to explain how those great examples 
have taught him to adapt the shape and ornament of 
his fountain to its surroundings, and to impress upon 
Cosimo the desirability of preserving the grassy mead 
in front of his palace—“ a corner—it seems to me—as 
full of natural loveliness as any place on earth.” 1 
Here, too, by Pope Leo’s invitation, that noble soul, 
Count Baldassare Castiglione, took up his abode in the 
summer of 1521, when his duties as Mantuan am¬ 
bassador kept him at the Vatican. In the sad days, 
when he mourned for his lost Ippolita, and could 
hardly believe himself to be in Rome now that his 
poor Raphael was gone, the sorely stricken man could 
find no better comfort than the peace and beauty of 
these shades. Here, as he wandered at will among 
the orange groves and fountains, he could feast his 
eyes on those wonders of antique sculpture, the 
Laocoon which inspired his friend Sadoleto’s Muse 
and the Cleopatra which he had himself celebrated 
1 Bottari, Raccolte di Lcttere , p. 93. 
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