ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
“As you saw, I mounted my horse, still suffering 
from the illness which Rome unkindly gave me, in 
reward for my trouble in coming to see her. But, 
as I rode, my strength returned at every step, and 
by the time I arrived here, I was myself again. 
Whether this was due to the pleasure I felt in leaving 
Rome, which certainly treated me badly this time, or 
to the change of air, or to healthy exercise, I will not 
attempt to decide, probably it was the result of all 
three ! At Padua I paid visits to some of my friends, 
and received visits from others, and then came on to 
my Villetta, which received me with open arms and 
where I find a peace and content that are a great 
contrast to the troubles which beset me in Rome. I 
do not hear disagreeable news. I need not think of 
lawsuits or wait on Procurators, or visit Auditors of the 
Rota. I hear nothing but the voices of nightingales 
warbling from every bush in joyous rivalry, and the 
songs of other birds, who all do their best to please 
me with their divine harmonies. I read, I write; 
when I choose, I ride or walk, I spend much of my 
time in a grove at the end of a pleasant and fruitful 
garden, where I gather vegetables for the first course 
of our evening meal, and sometimes pick a basket of 
strawberries, which are not only delicious to the taste, 
but perfume the whole breakfast-table with their 
fragrance. Nor should I forget to tell you that all 
day the garden and house, and the whole place, are 
full of roses. And that nothing should be lacking to 
my enjoyment, I spend the evening, when it is pleas¬ 
anter to be on the water than on land, in a small 
boat. First I row along a clear stream that flows past 
the house and then on the Brenta, which this brook 
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