CARDINAL BEMBO AND HIS VILLA 
the accession of a Medici Pope in the person of 
Clement VII. Bembo lost no time in going to kiss 
the new Pope’s feet, and in November 1524 he arrived 
in Rome, bringing with him the MS. of his Prose 
as an offering. Clement received him graciously and 
promised him a Canonry of Padua, but not even the 
company of Sadoleto and Ghiberti could make him 
forget the Villa. “ I am longing for home,” he wrote 
to Rodolfo Pio, “ and as soon as this Jubilee is over, 
I shall return far more willingly than I came here.” 
Again in a letter to Trifone he says, “ I count the 
days till I get back to you and my other friends, to 
our sweet and tranquil life, and my delicious Villetta.” 
A sharp attack of fever, however, delayed his return, 
and it was not till April that he finally left Rome. 
From Pesaro he wrote to the Duchess of Urbino, 
expressing his disappointment at missing her, and 
telling her that his visit to Rome had nearly cost him 
his life. “ Now, however,” he adds, “ I am well 
again, and on the way to my blessed Villetta, from 
which Rome shall never tear me again.” 1 
A few days after his return he addressed the follow¬ 
ing letter to his old colleague, Agostino Foglietta, 
giving a graphic account of life at the Villa, and of 
the contrast which its peaceful delights offered to the 
turmoil of Rome : 
Lett ere, ii. 32, iii. 88, iv. 41. 
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