22 
THE ART OF GARDEN DESIGN IN ITALY 
brought his gay company in safety from the foetid atmosphere of the fever-stricken city, he describes 
how that, ‘ led by the song of maybe twenty nightingales and other birds, they took their way towards 
the west, to a beautiful and splendid palace. When they had entered and seen over the house, they 
were now showed into the garden, which was on one side of the palace, and walled round about, 
which seemed so full of beauties at their first entrance that they were more attentive in viewing every 
part. All round and through the midst of it were large straight walks covered with vines, which 
seemed to promise a plenteous vintage ; and, being all in blossoms, they gave so delicious a scent, 
joined with other flowers then growing in the garden, that they thought themselves among the 
spiceries of the East. The sides of these walks were enclosed with white and red roses and jessamine, 
in such a manner as to exclude the morning and even the midday sun. What variety of plants, 
and how elegantly disposed, it would be needless to mention, since there was nothing belonging to 
our climate which was not there in great abundance. In the middle of this garden, what seemed more 
delightful than anything else was a plot of ground like a meadow ; the grass of a deep green, spangled 
with a thousand different flowers, and set round with orange and cedar trees, whose branches were 
stored with ripe fruit and blossoms, at the same time affording a most pleasing object to the eye as 
well as a grateful odour to the smell. In the centre of this meadow was a fountain of white marble, 
beautifully carved; and (whether by a natural or artificial spring, I know not), from a figure standing, 
on a column in the midst of the fountain, a jet of water spouted up, which made a most agreeable 
sound in its fall: the water which came from thence ran through the meadow by a secret passage, 
when, being received into canals, it appeared again, and was carried to every part of the garden, 
uniting in one stream at its going out, and falling with such force into the plains as to turn two mills 
before it got thither. . . . Whilst they were walking about, therefore, diverting themselves with 
weaving chaplets of flowers and listening to the various melody of the birds, who seemed to vie with 
each other, a new beauty presented itself to them which they had before taken no notice of: namely, 
they perceived the garden to be full of a hundred different creatures; in one place they saw rabbits 
issuing forth, from another quarter they saw hares ; here were goats lying down, and there were 
deer grazing. . . .’ The actual garden described has often been identified with the Villa Pahnieri, 
near Florence, but there is little reminiscent of Boccaccio’s day in the garden as it remains at 
present. 
Such gardens as Boccaccio has so delightfully portrayed may frequently be found in paint¬ 
ings, from which we may gather many suggestions. Several of Fra Angelico’s pictures show different 
treatments of gardens. The well-known ‘ Massacre of the Innocents,’ in the Florence Academy, 
shows a courtyard enclosure, upon the walls of which is a pergola with low round bowls full of 
flowers alternating between the columns; again, in the picture of ‘ Zacchias writing the name of 
St. John the Baptist,’ at Florence, is a little courtyard garden surrounded by a pannelled wall: 
Zacchias is seated upon a stone seat running round the garden against the wall. This feature is 
essentially Italian in its origin, the seat was frequently covered with grass, mosses, or other very low- 
growing plants. In another of Fra Angelico’s pictures is a small courtyard, with stone summer- 
