is an unpretentious structure of the seventeenth century, not unlike the
Villa de’ Gori at Siena, though the Palladian grouping of its central
windows shows the nearness of Venice. It looks on a terrace enclosed by
a balustrade, whence a broad flight of steps descends to the gently
sloping gardens. They are remarkable for their long pleached alleys of
beech, their wide _tapis verts_, fountains, marble benches and statues
charmingly placed in niches of clipped verdure. In one direction is a
little lake, in another a “mount” crowned by a statue, while a long
alley leads to a well-preserved maze with a raised platform in its
centre. These labyrinths are now rarely found in Italian gardens, and
were probably never as popular south of the Alps as in Holland and
England. The long _château d’eau_, with its couchant Nereids and
conch-blowing Tritons, descends a gentle slope instead of a steep hill,
and on each side high beech-hedges enclose tall groves of deciduous
trees. These hedges are characteristic of the north Italian gardens,
where the plane, beech and elm replace the “perennial greens” of the
south; and there is one specially charming point at Val San Zibio, where
four grass-alleys walled with clipped beeches converge on a stone basin
sunk in the turf, with four marble putti seated on the curb, dangling
their feet in the water. An added touch of quaintness is given to the
gardens by the fact that the old waterworks are still in action, so that
the unwary visitor, assailed by fierce jets of spray darting up at him
from the terrace steps, the cracks in the flagstones, and all manner of
unexpected ambushes, may form some idea of the aquatic surprises which
afforded his ancestors such inexhaustible amusement.
[Illustration: THE BOTANIC GARDEN OF PADUA]
There are few gardens in Italy comparable with Val San Zibio; but in
Padua there is one of another sort which has kept something of the same
ancient savor. This is the famous Botanic Garden, founded in 1545, and
said to be the oldest in Italy. The accompanying plan, though roughly
sketched from memory, will give some idea of its arrangement. Outside is
a grove of exotic trees, which surrounds a large circular space enclosed
in a beautiful old brick wall surmounted by a marble balustrade and
adorned alternately with busts and statues. The wall is broken by four
gateways, one forming the principal entrance from the grove, the other
three opening on semicircles in which statues are set against a
background of foliage. In the garden itself the beds for “simples” are
enclosed in low iron railings, within which they are again subdivided by
stone edgings, each subdivision containing a different species of plant.
Padua, in spite of its flat surroundings, is one of the most picturesque
cities of upper Italy; and the seeker after gardens will find many
charming bits along the narrow canals, or by the sluggish river skirting
the city walls. Indeed, one might almost include in a study of gardens
the beautiful Prato della Valle, the public square before the church of
Santa Giustina, with its encircling canal crossed by marble bridges, its
range of baroque statues of “worthies,” and its central expanse of turf
and trees. There is no other example in Italy of a square laid out in
this park-like way, and the Prato della Valle would form an admirable
model for the treatment of open spaces in a modern city.
[Illustration: VAL SAN ZIBIO, NEAR BATTAGLIA]
A few miles from Padua, at Ponte di Brenta, begins the long line of
villas which follows the course of the river to its outlet at Fusina.
Dante speaks in the “Inferno” of the villas and castles on the Brenta,
and it continued the favourite villeggiatura of the Venetian nobility
till the middle of the nineteenth century. There dwelt the Signor
Pococurante, whom Candide visited on his travels; and of flesh-and-blood
celebrities many might be cited, from the famous Procuratore Pisani to
Byron, who in 1819 carried off the Guiccioli to his villa at La Mira on
the Brenta.
The houses still remain almost line for line as they were drawn in
Gianfrancesco Costa’s admirable etchings, “Le Delizie del Fiume Brenta,”
published in 1750; but unfortunately almost all the old gardens have
disappeared. One, however, has been preserved, and as it is the one most
often celebrated by travellers and poets of the eighteenth century, it
may be regarded as a good example of a stately Venetian garden. This is
the great villa built at Strà, in 1736, for Alvise Pisani, procurator of
St. Mark’s, by the architects Prati and Frigimelica. In size and
elegance it far surpasses any other house on the Brenta. The prevailing
note of the other villas is one of simplicity and amenity. They stand
near each other, either on the roadside or divided from it by a low wall
bordered with statues and a short strip of garden, also thickly peopled
with nymphs, satyrs, shepherdesses, and the grotesque and comic figures
of the Commedia dell’ Arte; unassuming _villini_ for the most part,
suggesting a life of suburban neighbourliness and sociability. But the
Villa Pisani is a palace. Its majestic façade, with pillared central
_corps de bâtiment_ and far-reaching wings, stands on the highway
bordering the Brenta; behind are the remains of the old formal gardens,
and on each side, the park extends along the road, from which it is
divided by a high wall and several imposing gateways. The palace is
built about two inner courts, and its innumerable rooms are frescoed by
the principal Italian decorative painters of the day, while the great
central saloon has one of Tiepolo’s most riotously splendid ceilings.
Fortunately for the preservation of these treasures, Strà, after being
the property of Eugène Beauharnais, was acquired by the Italian
government, and is now a “villa nazionale,” well kept up and open to the
public.
[Illustration: GATEWAY—VILLA PISANI, STRÀ]
In the etching of Costa, an elaborate formal garden with _parterres de
broderie_ is seen to extend from the back of the villa to the
beautifully composed stables which face it. This garden has
unfortunately been replaced by a level meadow, flanked on both sides by
_boschi_, with long straight walks piercing the dense green leafage of
elm, beech and lime. Here and there fragments of garden-architecture
have survived the evident attempt to convert the grounds into a _jardin
anglais_ of the sentimental type. There is still a maze, with a fanciful
little central tower ascended by winding stairs; there is a little
wooded “mount,” with a moat about it, and a crowning temple; and there
are various charming garden-pavilions, orangeries, gardeners’ houses,
and similar small constructions, all built in the airy and romantic
style of which the Italian villa-architect had not yet lost the secret.
Architecturally, however, the stables are perhaps the most interesting
buildings at Strà. Their classical central façade is flanked by two
curving wings, forming charmingly proportioned lemon-houses, and in the
stables themselves the stalls are sumptuously divided by columns of red
marble, each surmounted by the gilded effigy of a horse.
From Strà to Fusina the shores of the Brenta are lined with charming
pleasure-houses, varying in size from the dignified villa to the little
garden-pavilion, and all full of interest and instruction to the student
of villa-architecture; but unhappily no traces of their old gardens
remain, save the statues which once peopled the parterres and surmounted
the walls. Several of the villas are attributed to Palladio, but only
one is really typical of his style: the melancholy Malcontenta, built by
the Foscari, and now standing ruinous and deserted in a marshy field
beside the river.
The Malcontenta has all the chief characteristics of Palladio’s manner:
the high basement, the projecting pillared portico, the general air of
classical correctness, which seems a little cold beside the bright and
graceful villa-architecture of Venetia. Burckhardt, with his usual
discernment, remarks in this connection that it was a fault of
Palladio’s to substitute for the recessed loggia of the Roman villa a
projecting portico, thus sacrificing one of the most characteristic and
original features of the Italian country house to a not particularly
appropriate adaptation of the Greek temple porch.
But Palladio was a great artist, and if he was great in his civic
architecture rather than in his country houses, if his stately genius
lent itself rather to the grouping of large masses than to the
construction of pretty toys, yet his most famous villa is a distinct and
original contribution to the chief examples of the Italian
pleasure-house. The Villa Capra, better known as the Rotonda, which
stands on a hill above Vicenza, has been criticized for having four
fronts instead of one front, two sides and a back. It is, in fact, a
square building with a projecting Ionic portico on each face—a plan open
to the charge of monotony, but partly justified in this case by the fact
that the house is built on the summit of a knoll from which there are
four views, all equally pleasing, and each as it were entitled to the
distinction of having a loggia to itself. Still, it is certain that
neither in the Rotonda nor in his other villas did Palladio hit on a
style half as appropriate or pleasing as the typical manner of the Roman
villa-architects, with its happy mingling of freedom and classicalism,
its wonderful adaptation to climate and habits of life, its capricious
grace of detail, and its harmony with the garden-architecture which was
designed to surround it.
[Illustration: VILLA VALMARANA, VICENZA]
The Villa Capra has not preserved its old gardens, and at the Villa
Giacomelli, at Maser, Palladio’s other famous country house, the grounds
have been so modernized and stripped of all their characteristic
features that it is difficult to judge of their original design; but one
feels that all Palladio’s rural architecture lacked that touch of fancy
and freedom which, in the Roman school, facilitated the transition of
manner from the house to the garden-pavilion, and from the pavilion to
the half-rustic grotto and the woodland temple.
The Villa Valmarana, also at Vicenza, on the Monte Berico, not far from
the Rotonda, has something of the intimate charm lacking in the latter.
The low and simply designed house is notable only for the charming
frescoes with which Tiepolo adorned its rooms; but the beautiful loggia
in the garden is attributed to Palladio, and this, together with the old
beech-alleys, the charming frescoed fountain, the garden-wall crowned by
Venetian grotesques, forms a composition of exceptional picturesqueness.
The beautiful country-side between Vicenza and Verona is strewn with old
villas, many of which would doubtless repay study; but there are no
gardens of note in this part of Veneto, except the famous Giusti gardens
at Verona, probably better known to sightseers than any others in
northern Italy. In spite of all their charm, however, the dusky massing
of their old cypresses, and their winding walks along the cliff-side,
the Giusti gardens preserve few traces of their original design, and are
therefore not especially important to the student of Italian
garden-architecture. More interesting in this connection is the Villa
Cuzzano, about seven miles from Verona, a beautiful old house standing
above a terrace-garden planted with an elaborate _parterre de broderie_.
Behind the villa is a spacious court bounded by a line of low buildings
with a central chapel. The interior of the house has been little
changed, and is an interesting example of north Italian villa planning
and decoration. The passion of the Italian architects for composition
and continuity of design is seen in the careful placing of the chapel,
which is exactly on an axis with the central saloon of the villa, so
that, standing in the chapel, one looks across the court, through this
lofty saloon, and out on the beautiful hilly landscape beyond. It was by
such means that the villa-architects obtained, with simple materials and
in a limited space, impressions of distance, and sensations of the
unexpected, for which one looks in vain in the haphazard and slipshod
designs of the present day.
LIST OF BOOKS MENTIONED
ITALIAN
Gianfrancesco Costa _Le Delizie del Fiume Brenta._ 1750.
Giovanni Falda _Giardini di Roma._ N. d.
Peter Paul Rubens _Palazzi di Genova._ 1622.
Rafaello Soprani _Vite de’ Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti
Genovesi._ (Second edition, revised, enlarged
and supplied with notes by C. G. Ratti.
1768.)
Giuseppe Zocchi _Vedute delle Ville e d’altri luoghi della
Toscana._ 1744.
FRENCH
Le Président de Brosses _Lettres Familières écrites d’Italie en 1739 et
1740._
L. Dussieux _Artistes Français a l’Etranger._
Michel de Montaigne _Journal du Voyage en Italie par la Suisse et
l’Allemagne en 1580 et 1581._
Percier et Fontaine _Choix des plus célèbres Maisons de Plaisance
de Rome et de ses Environs._ 1809.
Marc Antonio del Rè _Maisons de Plaisance de l’Etat de Milan.
Milan._ 1743.
Georges Riat _L’Art des Jardins._ N. d.
Eugène Emmanuel _Dictionnaire Raisonné de l’Architecture
Viollet-le-Duc Française._ 1858.
GERMAN
Jacob Burckhardt _Der Cicerone._ 1901.
Jacob Burckhardt _Geschichte der Renaissance in Italien._ 1891.
Josef Durm _Die Baustile: Die Baukunst der Renaissance in
Italien._ 1903.
Gustav Ebe _Die Spätrenaissance._ 1886.
Cornelius Gurlitt _Geschichte des Barockstils in Italien._ 1887.
W. C. Tuckermann _Die Gartenkunst der Italienischen
Renaissance-Zeit._ 1884.
ENGLISH
Michael Bryan _Dictionary of Painters and Engravers,
biographical and critical._ Revised and
enlarged by Robert Edmund Graves, B.A., 1886.
G. Burnet, D.D., Bishop Some Letters, containing an Account of what
of Salisbury. seemed most remarkable in Switzerland, Italy,
etc. 1686.
John Evelyn Diary, 1644.
ARCHITECTS AND LANDSCAPE-GARDENERS MENTIONED
ALESSI (GALEAZZO)
1512-1572
Though Alessi was a native of Perugia his best-known buildings were
erected in Genoa. Among them are the Villa Pallavicini alle Peschiere,
the Villa Imperiali (now Scassi), the Villa Giustiniani (now Cambiaso),
the Palazzo Parodi, the public granaries, and the church of the Madonna
di Carignano. He also laid out the Strada Nuova in Genoa. His chief
works in other places are: the Palazzo Marin (now the Municipio) in
Milan; the Palazzo Antinori, and the front of the church of S. Maria del
Popolo at Perugia; and the church of the Madonna degli Angeli near
Assisi.
ALGARDI (ALESSANDRO)
1602-1654
Algardi, a Bolognese architect, was also distinguished as an engraver
and sculptor, and was noted for his figures of children. He built the
Villa Belrespiro or Pamphily on the Janiculan, and the Villa Sauli, both
in Rome.
AMMANATI (BARTOLOMMEO)
1511-1592
Ammanati, the pupil of Bandinelli and Sansovino, was one of the most
distinguished Florentine architects of the sixteenth century, and was
also noted for his garden-sculpture. In Florence some of his best work
is seen in the Boboli garden and in the court of the Palazzo Pitti,
while the bridge of the S. Trinità is considered his masterpiece. In
Rome he built the fine façades of the Palazzo Ruspoli and of the
Collegio Romano. The rusticated loggia of the Villa Fonte all’ Erta is
ascribed to him.
BERNINI (GIOVANNI LORENZO)
1598-1680
Bernini, a Neapolitan by birth, was the greatest Italian architect and
sculptor of the seventeenth century. One of his masterpieces in
architecture is the church of S. Andrea al Noviziato on the Quirinal,
and among his other works in Rome are: the piazza and colonnade of St.
Peter’s, the Scala Regia in the Vatican, the Palazzo di Monte Citorio,
and the fountains of Trevi and the Tritone; at Pistoja the Villa
Rospigliosi, at Terni the cathedral, and at Ravenna the Porta Nuova.
BORROMINI (FRANCESCO)
1599-1667
Borromini, a pupil of Maderna, was, next to Bernini, the most original
and brilliant exponent of _baroque_ architecture in Italy. He was born
in Lombardy, but worked principally in Rome. Among his best-known
buildings are the church of St. Agnes on the Piazza Navona, that of San
Carlo alle quattro fontane, and the College of the Propaganda Fide. In
conjunction with Bernini and Maderna, he built the Palazzo Barberini in
Rome. Some of his best work is seen in the Villa Falconieri at Frascati.
BRAMANTE (DONATO)
1444-1514
Bramante was born at Urbino, but executed all his early work in Milan,
producing the church of S. Maria delle Grazie, the Ospedale Maggiore,
and the sacristy of San Satiro, which he not only built, but decorated
internally. In Lombardy the early Renaissance of building is called the
Bramantesque style. Bramante’s works in Rome are: the Tempietto of San
Pietro in Montorio, the palace of the Cancelleria, a part of the
Vatican, and a part of the Palazzo di San Biagio.
BROWN (LANCELOT)
1715-1783
Lancelot Brown, known as “Capability Brown,” a native of Northumberland,
began his career in a kitchen-garden, but, though without artistic
training and unable to draw, he became for a time a popular designer of
landscape-gardens. He was appointed Royal Gardener at Hampton Court, and
laid out the lake at Blenheim. He was considered to excel in
water-gardens.
BUONTALENTI (BERNARDO TIMANTE)
1536-1608
Buontalenti, one of the leading Florentine architects of the sixteenth
century, was also distinguished as a sculptor and painter. He built the
villa of Pratolino and carried on the planning of the Boboli garden. His
other works in Florence are: the façades of the Palazzi Strozzi and
Riccardi, the Palazzo Acciajuoli (now Corsini), the corridor leading
from the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace, and the casino behind San Marco. At
Siena, Buontalenti built the Palazzo Reale, and at Pisa, the Loggia de’
Banchi.
CAMPORESI (PIETRO)
B. ——, d. 1781
Camporesi, a Roman architect, is mentioned as working with “Moore of
Rome” on the grounds of the Villa Borghese.
CARLONE
Several brothers of this name lived in Genoa between 1550 and 1650. They
were known as sculptors, painters and gilders, and workers in stucco.
The beautiful ceiling of the church of the Santissima Annunziata in
Genoa is known to be by one of the Carloni.
CASTELLI (CARLO)
XVII Century
Castelli, who completed the façade of Santa Maria alla Porta, in Milan,
was an architect of the school of Maderna. With Crivelli he laid out the
gardens of the Isola Bella, near Como.
CASTELLO (GIOVANNI BATTISTA)
CALLED IL BERGAMASCO
1509-1579
Giovanni Castello of Bergamo was a pupil of Alessi’s and distinguished
himself in fresco-painting and sculpture. In Genoa he remodelled the
Palazzo Pallavicini (now Cataldi) and built the Palazzo Imperiali.
Soprani (“Vite de’ Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti Genovesi”) says that
Il Bergamasco was court-architect to Philip II of Spain and worked on
the Escorial. Bryan, in his Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, states
that Il Bergamasco was employed on the Prado by Charles V, while his son
worked for Philip II.
CRIVELLI
XVII Century
This landscape-gardener worked with Carlo Castelli on the grounds of the
Isola Bella, near Como.
FERRI (ANTONIO)
XVII Century
Ferri, a Florentine architect, built the Villa Corsini near Florence,
and remodelled the Palazzo Corsini on the Lungarno.
FONTANA (CARLO)
1634-1714
Fontana, one of the most versatile and accomplished architects of his
day, was born at Bruciato, near Milan. He was called to Rome as
architect of St. Peter’s, and collaborated with Bernini on several
occasions. In Rome he built the palace of Monte Citorio, the façade of
San Marcello, and the Palazzo Torlonia. As a villa-architect his most
famous creation is the Garden Palace of Prince Liechtenstein in Vienna.
He built the palace on the Isola Bella, and the Villa Chigi, at
Cetinale, near Siena, is also attributed to him. He was the author of
works on the Vatican and on the antiquities of Rome.
FONTANA (GIOVANNI)
1546-1614
Giovanni Fontana, of Melide, near Lugano, excelled in everything
relating to hydraulic work. At the Villa Borghese in Rome, and in the
principal villas at Frascati (Aldobrandini, Taverna, Mondragone), he
introduced original designs for the waterworks. In Rome he built the
Palazzi Giustiniani and de’ Gori, and made the design for the Fontana
dell’ Acqua Paola, though he did not live to carry it out.
FRIGIMELICA (COUNT GIROLAMO)
XVIII Century
Count Frigimelica, an accomplished Venetian nobleman, built the church
of S. Gaetano at Vicenza, and collaborated with Prati in the
construction of the Villa Pisani at Strà.
JUVARA (FILIPPO)
1685-1735
Juvara, the most original and interesting Italian architect of the
eighteenth century, was a pupil of Carlo Fontana’s. His most important
work is the church of the Superga near Turin, and his principal
buildings are found in or near Turin: among them being the hunting-lodge
of Stupinigi and the churches of Santa Cristina and Santa Maria in
Carmine. The church of San Filippo in Turin was rebuilt by Juvara, and
the royal villa at Rivoli, as well as other villas in the environs of
Turin, show his hand. He remodelled the Palazzo Madama in Rome; at Lucca
he finished the Palazzo Reale; at Mantua the dome on the church of S.
Andrea is by him, and in Lisbon and Madrid, respectively, he built the
royal palaces.
LE NÔTRE (ANDRÉ)
1613-1700
Le Nôtre, the greatest of French landscape-gardeners, first studied
painting under Simon Vouet, together with Mignard, Lebrun and Lesueur,
then succeeded his father as superintendent of the royal gardens. Among
his great works are the gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte, at Sceaux, at
Chantilly, and the cascades and park at Saint-Cloud. The park of
Versailles, the gardens of the Trianon, of Clagny and of Marly, are
considered his masterpieces. When he visited Italy he remodelled the
grounds of the Villa Ludovisi. He was frequently consulted by the
Elector of Brandenburg and other notable foreigners.
LIGORIO (PIRRO)
1493-1580
Ligorio, the Neapolitan architect, was also distinguished as antiquary,
sculptor and engineer; he worked much in _sgraffiti_. He built the
beautiful Villa Pia in the Vatican gardens, and the Villa d’Este at
Tivoli, and made additions to the Vatican. The Library in Turin
possesses his numerous manuscripts, some of which have been published.
His best-known works are “An Attempt to Restore Ancient Rome” and “The
Restoration of Hadrian’s Villa,” the plates for which were engraved on
copper by Francesco Contini in 1751.
LIPPI (ANNIBALE)
B. ——, d. 1581
Lippi is generally said to have been the son of Nanni di Baccio Bigio,
the architect and sculptor, though some biographers declare them to have
been the same person. Assuming Lippi to have had a separate identity,
only two of his works are known: the church of S. Maria di Loreto, near
Spoleto, and the Villa Medici in Rome. His fame rests on the latter,
which became the model of the Roman _maison de plaisance_.
LONGHENA (BALDASSARE)
1604-1682
Longhena, the most distinguished architect of the late Renaissance in
Venetia, gave all his time and work to his native city. Among the
buildings he erected there are: S. Maria della Salute, S. Maria al
Scalzi, the Ospedaletto, the cloister and staircase in San Giorgio
Maggiore, the Palazzo Pesaro, and the Palazzo Rezzonico (now Zelinsky).
LUNGHI OR LONGHI (MARTINO) THE ELDER
XVI Century
Lunghi, born at Viggiù in the Milanese, in the second half of the
sixteenth century, built the Villa Mondragone at Frascati, in 1567, for
Cardinal Marco d’Altemps. The villa was enlarged by Gregory VII, and
later by Paul V and his nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese.
MARCHIONNE (CARLO)
1704-1780
Marchionne was the architect of the Villa Albani near Rome, built in
1746.
MICHELANGELO (SIMONE BUONARROTI)
1475-1564
The great architect, sculptor and painter, was born in Florence, where
he built the Laurentian Library and the chapel of S. Lorenzo, with the
cupola of the sacristy. In Rome he built the Palazzo de’ Conservatorii
on the Capitoline hill, the cornice of the Palazzo Farnese, the Porta
del Popolo and the Porta Pia. His model for the dome of St. Peter’s was
carried out except as to the lantern. Tradition assigns to him the Villa
ai Collazzi (now Bombicci) near Florence.
MONTORSOLI (FRA GIOVANNI ANGELO)
1507-1563