VILLAS AT FRASCATI 
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and an elaborate architectural retaining-wall and central flight of steps, leading to the reservoir, set 
against the hillside, which Supplied the water for house and fountains. A lower garden, consisting 
of a large box parterre, and sheltered by high hedges and a bosco, completed the design. There 
are few flowers ; but a quiet and dignified simplicity is imparted by the contrasted tones of ilex, box 
and cypress, that gives a great charm to the garden everywhere, save where the landscapist has 
introduced such foreign elements as unnatural rockeries and deciduous trees planted in groups. 
The Villa Torlonia or Conti belonged originally to the Conti family, whose connection 
with France in the seventeenth century is well known to all lovers of romance. The last of the 
race, Fulvia Conti, married a Sforza in 1650, and by a later alliance the villa came into the 
possession of the Torlonia. The entrance to the villa is directly in the Piazza del Municipio, and 
a short drive leads past the magnificent stairways, shown on Plate 109, to the low white casino, 
an unpretending house with broad eaves. The garden consists entirely of ilex ‘boschi,’ laid out 
upon the hillside in rectangular forms intersected by mossy alleys. There is, however, a small 
parterre garden behind the casino. Here and there, at the intersection of the walks, are fine foun¬ 
tains, which send up high jets of water, and, seen at the ends of long vistas, have a very pleasing 
effect. The two principal features are the fine stairway, which extends the entire width of the 
garden, and the cascade, planned upon a central axial line, at right angles to the stairway. A 
central alley terminates in an open grassplot with large basin and the cascade above (see Plate 
no), and a low retaining wall skirts the hillside. The water for the cascade is collected into a 
fine balustraded reservoir, whence it falls by a series of inclined ledges into four oval basins, 
each a little wider than the one above. A stairway on either side follows the curve of the basins 
and leads to the terrace above. Here and there are a few stone seats, where one enjoys the 
beautiful view of Rome. 
Beyond the Villa Borghese, the roadway leads up the hillside to the Villa Mondragone 
(see plan on Plate 111), which is at present a Jesuit college. The villa was commenced in 1567 by 
Martino Lunghi, for Cardinal Marco d’Altempo; it was afterwards enlarged by Pope Gregory VII., 
