130 
THE ART OF GARDEN DESIGN IN ITALY 
flower garden, occupying a level space in front of the two pavilions; for the casino is divided 
into two parts, as at the Villa Campi, near Florence. This is an arrangement which, though in 
these days likely to cause much inconvenience, would hardly have done so in the sixteenth 
century, when it was frequently an advantage to house part of the suite in an adjoining building. 
Nearly a quarter of the area of the parterre is occupied by a large square central tank, sur¬ 
rounded by a balustrade, and crossed by four bridges leading to a circular island in the centre, 
upon which is a beautiful fountain, with a group of four travertine figures supporting the heraldic 
device of Cardinal Montalto on their upraised arms. A jet of water springs from beneath their 
feet, and plays against the underside of the device; water also spouts from lions’ mouths into a 
basin below. Streams pour from masks carved on the balustrade piers, falling into the great 
basin, and in the four tanks small ‘ putti,’ seated on the prows of stone galleys, laden with 
flowers, blow thin jets of water into the sunshine. 
From the parterre a double ‘ rampe-douce,’ and stairways on either side, lead between the 
two casini to the second level; here are two grassplots and groups of plane-trees. From this 
terrace a double stairway ascends on either side of a curious circular fountain to the third level. 
This fountain (illustrated on Plate 120) is formed of a stepped series of basins, the lower repeating 
in convex forms the concave of the upper. The water alternately gushes through spouts or spurts 
upwards in tiny jets, which rise from numerous basins. The third plateau is larger, and rises 
