House and Garden 
front door under the 
loggia to a cancello , up¬ 
on the left of which is 
a small family chapel. 
An immense deodar, 
planted in 1848, as a 
tablet tells us, is re¬ 
markable for the height 
it has reached in so 
comparatively short a 
time. Besides this 
there are some fine 
standard magnolia, 
copper beech, and tu¬ 
lip trees. Of flowers, 
the beds are bright 
with roses, geraniums 
and marguerites. 
Looking up from 
the garden to the hill, 
immediately opposite 
the house, you have 
before you a strange 
piece of ornamental architectural work. 
High up the hill, the summit of this mon¬ 
ument (for I do not know what else to call 
it) is crowned by an obelisk thirty feet high, 
surmounted by a golden eagle. The base of 
the obelisk, a square 
block of granite, bears a 
tablet which informs us 
that “ Cavaliere Priore 
Enrico Danti inaugurava 
il di 28 Nov. 1865” 
this wonderful construc¬ 
tion. A semicircular 
concave wall fifteen feet 
high, covered with now 
obliterated frescoes, sup¬ 
ports the higher ground 
on which stands the obe¬ 
lisk. A stone seat runs 
around this wall, and the 
ground in front of it has 
been leveled to form an 
iron-railed terrace, in its 
turn held up by a stone 
wall, down the center of 
which some narrow steep 
steps lead to the next 
level. Here the hill 
has been graveled and 
held in by some nude 
AN AVENUE OF CYPRESSES 
steps. Two aloes on each side are the only 
plants that ornament this steep incline, which 
about fifty feet lower reaches a paved circular 
terrace, in the middle of which stands a statue 
of Spring, of no merit whatever as a statue, 
but e f f e c t i v e enough 
when seen from a long 
distance. Narrow stairs 
with iron rails creep down 
the sides of the circular 
wall and meet at the bot¬ 
tom, where a grotto has 
been excavated under the 
terrace. From this point 
to the cancello there is no 
more masonry. A 
straight gravel path runs 
down between clipped 
laurel hedges, beyond 
which the poderi stretch 
right and left. This may 
be described as the Cava¬ 
liere Priore’s capolavoro , 
but it is by no means the 
only embellishment he 
has “ inaugurated ” in his 
grounds. He was evi¬ 
dently as fond of dra¬ 
matic effect in landscape 
as Horace Walpole him- 
iL-R-Ji—i 
' M l t -M ' 
THE FLAN OF THE GROUNDS 
A—The Villa B—The Chapel C — Steward's House 
D—Stables E — The Large Statue 
F—The Raised Garden G—The Lower Garden 
H—Pool y—Obelisk K , K , K—Gates 
299 
