FLORENTINE VILLA GARDENS-IV. 
T RAVELERS in Italy may remember 
the little town of Signa, the last but one 
oi the many stations in going from Fisa to 
Florence. They may have noticed the gray 
pinnacles and towers of this interesting 
old town perched on the hill to their left, 
but they probably did not give much at¬ 
tention to the new one, built on the low- 
lying ground beside the river. Squalid and 
dirty, it is not even picturesque, a quality we 
all expect from Italian squalor and dirt. 
But if, nothing daunted by the ugliness 
around, they had looked up to the crest of 
the hills above the town to the south, they 
would have caught sight of the cypresses 
and ilexes of what was once the property of 
the old Florentine family of the Pucci, sold by 
them in 1856, and now known as the Villa 
Campi. 
I he carriage road leading to the villa 
climbs the steep side of the hill, then turns, 
and at last, without passing through gates or 
any other sign of a boundary, loses itself in 
the grass of an avenue. Flere the way is 
barred by a rusty chain, hanging across the 
road, from stone pilaster to stone pilaster. 
There is not a soul about. You may come 
and you may go, and no one will ask you 
your errand. The place seems deserted. 
Over the iron chain you are looking up one 
of five avenues radiating from the terrace 
above and cut through the ilexes growing 
on this, the north side of the hill. Statues on 
massive stone pedestals stand on either side 
at equal distances, the whole length ol the 
avenue; but the ilexes, which were once be¬ 
hind the statues, have grown, and grown, 
untouched by gardener’s shears, until the 
poor gods and goddesses can only be seen 
by those who care to push aside the foliage 
and gaze on their divine, but alas ! moss- 
stained limbs. 
This avenue leads directly to the house, 
but there is another road, less steep, which 
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