n8 
THE ART OF GARDEN DESIGN IN ITALY 
summit of which falls a cascade . . . precipitating into a large theatre of water. Under this is 
an artificial grot wherein are curious rocks, hydraulic organs and all sorts of singing birds, moving 
and chirping by force of the water, with several other pageants and surprising inventions. In the 
centre of one of these rooms rises a copper ball that continually dances about three feet above the 
pavement, by virtue of a wind secretly conveyed to a hole beneath it; with many other devices for 
wetting the unwary spectators. ... In one of these theatres of water is an Atlas spouting 
and another monster makes a terrible roaring with a horn; but above all the representation of a 
storm is most natural, with such fury of rain, wind, and thunder, as one would imagine oneself 
in some extreme tempest.* 
De Brasses, in 1739, describes the villa, and remarks the avenues fringed with oranges and 
palisades of laurel ; he declares that, ‘ the great fountain is nearly equal to that of St. Cloud • 
it is one of the finest things that can be seen. It descends with a terrific sound of air and water 
through pipes arranged expressly to make a perpetual cannonade. Besides this great fountain there 
are numerous smaller ones ; many in very good taste. The hill of the belvedere is scooped out 
into three terraces, ornamented with grottoes, and with fa9ades in rustic architecture. The great 
cascade is crowned with columns with twisted flutings, through which the water circulates in 
spiral lines.’ 
The plan and section of the villa upon Plate 102 shows the casino backed by an ilex 
wood, rising above to the south-east of the house. Through this wood runs a stream from 
Monte Algido, some eight kilometres away. This water is first collected into a covered cistern 
above the level of the casino, and then descends past two rustic falls and pools; thence by means 
of a stone channel, to the head of the cascade. On either side is an Ionic column of mosaic, 
decorated with armorial bearings, and the water runs in a sparkling silvery stream down a spiral 
groove around the columns. From the head of the cascade the water falls with a deafening roar 
down the central cascade, and, from shell to shell of the channels designed upon either side, to the 
large semicircular water-theatre below, where Atlas staggers beneath a heavy load, above which 
the water falls from the cascade, and Pan seated within an alcove plays upon his flute. To the 
left of this water-theatre is a chapel, and the corresponding wing opposite is known as Parnassus ■ 
for formerly there existed here an hydraulic organ, and the walls were covered with beautiful 
frescoes by Domenichino, which became so damaged by the damp that they were removed to 
the Borghese Gallery at Rome. 
The steep hillside was formed into a long platform some three hundred yards long and 
forty wide, upon the edge of this space the casino was built. The principal floor is entered 
from a few feet above the level of the platform, allowing of a lofty basement opening on a level 
with the great terrace below, and the roof of this lower story forms at each end a terrace, 
level with the first-floor windows. Upon either side of the main platform, plane bosquets are 
arranged in a quincuncial form, terminated at the north-east by the stables and service buildings 
and on the south-west by an oblong ‘ giardino segreto,’ with the picturesque boat-shaped fountain 
