ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
office under the Republic. He was successively Am¬ 
bassador at Florence—where his son Pietro was born in 
1470—and at Ferrara, but is chiefly remembered by 
the tomb which he raised to Dante’s memory while he 
was Podesta of Ravenna. Whenever Messer Bernardo 
could spare a few weeks from his official duties, he 
took refuge with his wife and children at Villa Bozza, 
and there Pietro spent the happiest days of his boy¬ 
hood. In his Latin Dialogue Etna , a record of the 
journey which he paid to Sicily to study Greek under 
Lascaris, the scene is laid at the Villa. We have a 
charming picture of the two scholars, father and son, 
sitting in the cool shelter of the atrium inside the house, 
on a hot August day, discussing the eruption of the, 
volcano and all the wonderful things which the young 
man had seen in Sicily. Presently the burning heat of 
the sun compels them to retire into the library, where 
they sit at ease and turn over the pages of their 
favourite tomes, until the sun sinks in the western sky 
and they stroll out into the woods by the river, listen¬ 
ing to the pleasant murmur of running water. “ Thus, 
with always new delight, we return to our beloved 
Nonianum.” 
In June 1519 Bernardo died suddenly, and his son 
was summoned to Venice, to find himself face to 
face with a critical state of affairs. His father had 
left heavy debts and three orphan grandchildren, the 
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