HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 
3i 
charming circular loggia and foun¬ 
tain. At intervals, huge barocco 
statues representing the Seasons 
stand out like grim sentinels. At 
the back upon the plateau is a 
square garden formally laid out 
with clipped-box hedges, fountains 
and grottoes. Sebastiani, writing 
in 1741, gives a description of the 
gardens, and mentions a pool in 
the middle of the lower garden 
having a huge lily, the crest of the 
Farnese family, formed of lead, which sent up a volume of water with such vehemence that it burst 
in fine clouds of spray in which the sunbeams produced a rainbow. There is a very spacious 
grotto against a retaining wall at the 
far side of the garden, worked in stucco 
and pebbles, its walls sustained by six 
gigantic sylvan figures, whilst nymphs 
sit within playing upon musical in¬ 
struments. The ground rises gently 
behind these gardens for some distance, 
and an avenue of cypresses leads for 
about a quarter of a mile to the 
graceful little retreat known as the 
Villa Farnese, laid out about seventy- 
five years after the great palace by 
Cardinal Odoardo Farnese. Its par¬ 
terres are now overgrown and unkempt, 
the once well-tended paths are weedy 
and uncared for, and the great moss- 
covered caryatides look sorrowfully down 
upon a scene of disorder and neglect. 
At the extremity of the grand avenue 
is a square courtyard and circular foun¬ 
tain pool, and on either side are grottoes 
with mosaics of pebbles and shellwork ; 
between these grottoes a broad ascent 
leads to an oval court with a large 
