THE GARDENS OF VENICE 
“ Veri paradisi terrestri per la vaghezza del aere e del orto, luogo 
de ninfe e de semi-dei.”—A ndrea Calmo. 
Few Italians take greater pleasure in flowers and 
gardens than the people of Venice, the city in the sea. 
These dwellers in the lagoons, whose houses rise from 
the water’s edge, and who seldom own more than a 
few feet of ground, are passionately fond of plants 
and blossoms. They cultivate every inch of soil 
within these narrow bounds, and grow vines and 
acacias round every traghetto and osteria. Their bal¬ 
conies are hung with wisteria and Virginia creeper, 
their roofs and window-ledges are gay with flower¬ 
pots. Every visitor to Venice remembers the glimpses 
of leafy arbours, of palm and myrtle and pomegranate, 
that charm his eyes as his gondola glides along the 
Grand Canal, the flowery paradise behind the iron 
gates of Ca’ Foscari and Casa Rossa, the gardens of 
Palazzo della Mula and Venier, the trailing roses and 
white convolvulus of the loggia at Ca’ Capello—that 
fair house which few of us to-day can see without 
a sigh for the gracious presence which has passed 
away. Even in the densely populated quarters of the 
city, at the back of the Carmine and San Panta- 
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