International studio (16.1902)

Italy's Private Gardens

The beautiful fountain on the east side of the
villa was removed from Castello and brought here
by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo. It is one of
Tribolo’s masterpieces. On the top of the stem
Pribolo placed a bronze female figure (as Vasari
tells us) a yard-and-a half high, to represent
Florence, of which figure he had made a most
beautiful model, wringing the water out of her
hair with her hands; but the critics declare the
Flore?ice to be by Giovanni Bologna.
But behind the city there still remains to be
admired the small portion, saved from the vandals’
hands, of the famous Orti Oricellari, designed
by Bernardo Rucellai, kinsman of Lorenzo the
Magnificent, in 1498, and .adorned with lovely
antique statues. It was the resort of the accadeiM0,
phitomca, and there Machiavelli read his discourses-
The gardens, which were the delight of Bianca
Cappello, were made and remade several times to
suit the landscape, according to the taste of
successive owners. Prato-
lino was more fortunate.
The villa of Prato-
lino (to quote the writer
to whom T have already
referred), “about six miles
from Florence on the high
road to Bologna, lies on
the eastern slope of Mount
Uccellatojo. In 1569 the
Grand Duke Francesco I-
squandered enormous
sums upon the villa and
the garden, which he filled
with statues,grottoes, foun-
tains, and jeux d’eaux of
every description. Buon-
talento was the architect-
Of all these ancient mar-
vels nothing remains but
the beautiful park, with its
magnificent trees, and a
few of the rare shrubs
planted by Francesco, a
passionate cultor of curious
plants and animals, and
the large statue of die
Apennines cunningly built
of large blocks of stone
by Giovanni Bologna.”
The garden of Prat0'
lino seems to have aston-
ished all beholders. Mof1'
“cypress trees at the villa d’este ” photograph by alinari taigne in 1580, Sir Henr)
184

more about them, and all the Florentine houses, to
read the charming volume by Janet Ross, just
published. She writes :
“ Petraja, within sight of the city, peaceful,
almost a garden of roses and carnations, its
terraces sinking gradually down to the plain, with
an enormous marble reservoir of clear green water,
in which colossal carp disport themselves. Under
the first one, on which stand the villa and a few
huge ilexes, a rustic staircase twines round the
trunk of the largest of these trees, leading up to
a platform among the branches, where Victor
Emmanuel used to dine. The view of Florence at
one’s feet, surrounded by villa-crowned hills, is
lovely, and Ariosto is said to have written his well-
known lines while standing on the terrace of
Petraja—
“To see the hills with villas sprinkled o’er
Would make one think that, even'as flowers and trees,
Here earth tall towers in rich abundance bore.”