Italian villas and their gardens . rdinal andcompleted for another. It stands in true Italian fashionagainst the hillside above the Spanish Steps, its airyupper stories planted on one of the mighty bastion-likebasements so characteristic of the Roman villa. Avilla above, a fortress below, it shows that, even in thepolished cinque-cento, life in the Papal States neededthe protection of stout walls and heavily barred win-dows. The garden-fagade, raised a story above theentrance, has all the smiling openness of the Renaissancepleasure-house, and is interesting as being probably theearliest exampl
Italian villas and their gardens . rdinal andcompleted for another. It stands in true Italian fashionagainst the hillside above the Spanish Steps, its airyupper stories planted on one of the mighty bastion-likebasements so characteristic of the Roman villa. Avilla above, a fortress below, it shows that, even in thepolished cinque-cento, life in the Papal States neededthe protection of stout walls and heavily barred win-dows. The garden-fagade, raised a story above theentrance, has all the smiling openness of the Renaissancepleasure-house, and is interesting as being probably theearliest example of the systematic use of fragments ofantique sculpture in an architectural elevation. But thisfa(jade, with its charming central loggia, is sufficientlywell known to make a detailed description superfluous,and it need be studied here only in relation to its sur-roundings. Faldas plan of the grounds, and that of Percier andFontaine, made over a hundred and fifty years later,show how little succeeding fashions have been allowed 90. ROMAN VILLAS to disturb the original design. The gardens are stillapproached by a long shady alley which ascends fromthe piazza before the entrance; and they are still di-vided into a symmetrically planted grove, a flower-gar-den before the house, and an upper wild-wood witha straight path leading to the mount planted withcypresses. It is safe to say that no one enters the grounds of theVilla Medici without being soothed and charmed by thatgarden-magic which is the peculiar quality of some ofthe old Italian pleasances. It is not necessary to be astudent of garden-architecture to feel the spell of quietand serenity which falls on one at the very gateway;but it is worth the students while to try to analyze theelements of which the sensation is composed. Perhapsthey will be found to resolve themselves into diversity,simplicity and fitness. The plan of the garden is simple,but its different parts are so contrasted as to produce, bythe fewest means, a ple
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