Italian villas and their gardens; . avish ornament is suited to a little pleasure-pavilion in a garden, is right in describing it as the most perfect retreat imaginable for a midsummer after-noon. The outer gardens of the Vatican, in a corner of whichthe Villa Pia lies, were probably laid out by Antonio daSangallo the Younger, who died in 1546; and thoughmuch disfigured, they still show traces of their originalplan. The sunny sheltered terrace, espaliered withlemons, is a good example of the walk for the coldseason for which Italian garden-architects always pro-vided ; and the large sunken flo
Italian villas and their gardens; . avish ornament is suited to a little pleasure-pavilion in a garden, is right in describing it as the most perfect retreat imaginable for a midsummer after-noon. The outer gardens of the Vatican, in a corner of whichthe Villa Pia lies, were probably laid out by Antonio daSangallo the Younger, who died in 1546; and thoughmuch disfigured, they still show traces of their originalplan. The sunny sheltered terrace, espaliered withlemons, is a good example of the walk for the coldseason for which Italian garden-architects always pro-vided ; and the large sunken flower-garden surroundedby hanging woods is one of the earliest instances of thiseffective treatment of the giardino segreto. In fact, theVatican may have suggested many features of the laterRenaissance garden, with its wide-spread plan whichgradually came to include the park. The seventeenth century saw the development of thisextended plan, but saw also the decline of the architec- 104 VILLA PIA—IN THE GARDENS OF THE VATICAN ?..W. VILLA ROMAN VILLAS tural restraint and purity of detail which mark thegeneration of Vignola and Sangallo. The Villa Bor-ghese, built in 1618 by the Flemish architect GiovanniVasanzia (John of Xanten), shows a complete departurefrom the old tradition. Its elevation may indeed betraced to the influence of the garden-front of the VillaMedici, which was probably the prototype of the gaypleasure-house in which ornamental detail supersededarchitectural composition ; but the garden-architectureof the Villa Borghese, and the treatment of its extensivegrounds, show the complete triumph of the baroque. The grounds of the Villa Borghese, which include apark of several hundred acres, were laid out by Dome-nico Savino and Girolamo Rainaldi, while its water-works are due to Giovanni Fontana, whose name isassociated with the great jeux deatix of the villas atFrascati. Faldas plan shows that the grounds aboutthe house have been little changed. At each end of thevilla
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