DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0332
The Italian Renaissance and Baroque
provoked by hearing that a mere cardinal was making a finer villa than the Pope's. Then
Montalto thought it advisable to hold back, feigning illness. But at this point the architect
Domenico Fontana, who also believed in his master's good luck, bought the entire place
so that he could continue the work, and later on the Pope heaped honours on his head.
This story shows how important to the Romans was the size and splendour of this
garden. But one reason why it was interrupted must have been the deplorable want of
water in this part of the city, and the first order given by the Pope on the very day he
ascended the papal chair, was that Domenico Fontana was to undertake the construction
of the water conduit, Acqua Felice. Thus did he inaugurate a work that, as Ranke says,
FIG. 233. VILLA MONTALTO, ROME-THE APPROACH TO THE CASINO
"brought more honour and glory to him in the town than was paid to any other Pope."
This gigantic work filled him and the architect with joy and pride when two years later
it was completed. All Rome took part in the jubilation, and Torquato Tasso wrote a pom-
pous poem in its praise, following the water on its path below the earth till gleefully it
greets the sun which once shone upon the mighty Augustus. It was felt that now something
had been made worthy of antique glory, and so it should be celebrated in an antique
style. The Pope had one arm of the conduit taken through his garden and thence to the
Quirinal, the other was to pour forth its streams at the Moses fountain at the Thermae.
The Villa Montalto (Figs. 232, 233) which only a few decades ago stood "beautiful
and dignified in wild surroundings" is now completely swamped m a sea of houses,
stretching from the Esquiline and Viminal between the church of S. Maria Maggiore
and the Thermae. The architect, Domenico Fontana, was the first of a whole family of
provoked by hearing that a mere cardinal was making a finer villa than the Pope's. Then
Montalto thought it advisable to hold back, feigning illness. But at this point the architect
Domenico Fontana, who also believed in his master's good luck, bought the entire place
so that he could continue the work, and later on the Pope heaped honours on his head.
This story shows how important to the Romans was the size and splendour of this
garden. But one reason why it was interrupted must have been the deplorable want of
water in this part of the city, and the first order given by the Pope on the very day he
ascended the papal chair, was that Domenico Fontana was to undertake the construction
of the water conduit, Acqua Felice. Thus did he inaugurate a work that, as Ranke says,
FIG. 233. VILLA MONTALTO, ROME-THE APPROACH TO THE CASINO
"brought more honour and glory to him in the town than was paid to any other Pope."
This gigantic work filled him and the architect with joy and pride when two years later
it was completed. All Rome took part in the jubilation, and Torquato Tasso wrote a pom-
pous poem in its praise, following the water on its path below the earth till gleefully it
greets the sun which once shone upon the mighty Augustus. It was felt that now something
had been made worthy of antique glory, and so it should be celebrated in an antique
style. The Pope had one arm of the conduit taken through his garden and thence to the
Quirinal, the other was to pour forth its streams at the Moses fountain at the Thermae.
The Villa Montalto (Figs. 232, 233) which only a few decades ago stood "beautiful
and dignified in wild surroundings" is now completely swamped m a sea of houses,
stretching from the Esquiline and Viminal between the church of S. Maria Maggiore
and the Thermae. The architect, Domenico Fontana, was the first of a whole family of