ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
May 1527 the peace of the Villa was rudely disturbed 
by the news of the terrible disaster which had befallen 
Rome—the capture and sack of the city by the 
Imperialist armies. Like all who had known the 
Eternal City in the golden days of Leo, Bembo was 
filled with consternation. In his letters to Sadoleto 
at Carpentras, he poured out the anguish of his soul, 
and mourned over the ruin which had overtaken his 
dearest friends. Foglietta was killed by a chance shot, 
Ghiberti, the Papal Datary, was dragged from prison 
to prison by Spanish soldiers, Angelo Colocci’s price- 
lese collections were plundered before his eyes, Negri 
lost his library and Paolo Giovio the manuscript of his 
history. Tebaldeo, the beloved friend of Bembo and 
Raphael, was given up for lost, and was only saved by 
taking refuge in Palazzo Colonna. In his joy at 
hearing of his friend’s safety, Bembo sent Tebaldeo 
a present of thirty ducats to relieve his most pressing 
needs, and begged him to come to Padua or Venice, 
assuring him of the most friendly reception from his 
many admirers. “ Come here to those who love you 
and await you, he wrote, “ and leave this miserable 
corpse of our once beautiful Rome.” 1 
But by this time all Italy was overrun by foreign 
invaders. A squadron of German and Spanish troops 
ravaged Bembo s Commenda at Bologna, cutting down 
1 Lettere , iii. 157. 
152 
