THE GARDENS OF PAPAL ROME 
fallen in, several of the rooms were roofless, and the 
beautiful frescoes were mouldering on the mildewed 
walls—a truly pitiful condition ! 
Meanwhile, Raphael’s unfinished villa had supplied 
a model for many other splendid pleasure-houses, and 
his original designs exerted a lasting influence on 
the development of villa architecture in Italy. 
Already in 1522, only two years after the master’s 
death, the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria, asked 
Castiglione to lend him Raphael’s letter with the de¬ 
scription of the Medici Vigna , in order that it might be 
a guide to him in laying out the house and grounds of 
the Villa Imperiale at Pesaro. Count Baldassare had 
unluckily left Raphael’s letter in his house at Mantua, 
but referred the Duke to a cousin of the painter, Don 
Girolamo Vagnino, who had another copy with him at 
Urbino. With the help of this precious letter, Genga 
and his assistants were able to build and adorn the 
palace which Duchess Leonora reared in her lord’s 
absence on the heights above Pesaro and the Adriatic. 
This villa, rich in marbles and frescoes, and sur¬ 
rounded with terraces, colonnades, orange and myrtle 
groves, was long the wonder and delight of all 
visitors to Pesaro, and Bembo declared that it was 
designed with greater skill and resembled antique villas 
more closely than any modern building that he had 
At the same time, Giulio Romano, coming 
97 g 
ever seen. 
