VILLAS AT FRASCATI 
123 
casino, and raised a story above the level of the terrace. The view from the terrace is stupendous, 
especially at sunset, when the purple and golden colouring of the Sabine Hills is not easily 
forgotten. To the right Tivoli, and the little towns and villages dotted in scattered white patches 
upon the brown mountain-sides. The kitchen offices are constructed underneath the terrace, and the 
chimneys carried up in the form of high Doric columns. The central feature of the terrace is a 
fine fountain supported by the Borghese dragons. Upon the eastern side of the grand court 
is an oblong ‘ giardino segreto,’ now only used as a playground for boys, but shown in old 
prints as a parterre garden, with a loggia at one end attributed to Vignola, and at the other end 
a theatre d’eau designed by Giovanni Fontana. It is raised above the court, and approached by 
a double ramp elaborately inlaid in mosaic, with many surprise fountains, an elaborate design, 
with niches in low relief depicting architectural compositions in perspective, and is now fast 
falling into ruin. There are several 
engravings extant of this theatre d’eau, 
notably one by Kysell. 
The Villa Pallavicini was for¬ 
merly known as Belpoggio. The ac¬ 
companying sketch, taken from Rossi’s 
panoramic view of the Frascati villas, 
shows the garden as it appeared in 
the seventeenth century; the plan upon 
Plate hi is from Percier and Fon¬ 
taine’s work. The villa is raised upon 
a platform with the ground falling away 
upon all four sides; upon the north¬ 
east, olive woods descend in terraces 
towards Frascati. The north end of 
the garden was formerly a bosco and 
terminated in a broad terrace overlook¬ 
ing the Campagna. The garden has 
been very much spoilt in modern times; the great parterre is now practically destroyed, and 
only the cool ilex tunnels at either side remain. 
The Villa Falconieri adjoins the Villa Borghese, to the east of Frascati; a narrow lane 
leads to the monumental entrance-gates erected in 1729, by Cardinal Alexander Falconieri; 
the gateway is now unused, and access to the villa is by a more modern gateway leading 
to a prato, opposite the entrance to the parterre, shown upon Plate 112. The villa is the oldest 
in Frascati, and was originally built for Cardinal Ruffini by Borromini. It afterwards belonged 
to the Sforza and Falconieri families, whose crest—a falcon—may still be seen above the gateway. 
According to Rossi’s print, the original entrance occupied the present position, and a roadway 
