DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19775#0115
A GROUP OF GARDENS.
IN the heart of the Corso you turn into the
courtyard of the Doria palace, most magnifi-
cent of private palaces. It used to he said
that a thousand persons lived under the roof,
exclusive of the gallery and private apartments,
which alone surpassed in extent the majority of
Royal residences. Here, in the cortile, built by
Valvason and Pietro da Cortona, there is a garden
with tall palm trees, stiff and stately, as befits the
surrounding architecture. Near Porta Pia are the
beautiful gardens of the English Embassy, rich in
tall cypresses and dark ilexes, and gay with the
flowers which a succession of English chatelaines have
encouraged there. In one part we come upon
a vista, wild with red poppies or purple
foxgloves, rising round a broken column, in
another a formal garden spreads its gay pattern.
The garden is bounded by the walls of old Rome,
and on the top of them a walk has been made,
from which there is an exquisite view over the
campagna and the Sabine and Alban hills seen
through the interstices of rose-covered pergolas.
Every visitor to Rome knows the imposing
entrance to the Barberini palace, but few penetrate
beyond Bernini's splendid gates and palace, and
mount the circular stair that leads to the old garden
lying on the slopes beyond. It has been encroached
on, upon either hand, by streets, but there still
remains a considerable stretch, a fine retaining wall
with balustrades decorated with rococo figures, and
where a gateway formerly opened, is a noble
umbrella pine.
No visitor is ever admitted into the precincts
of the Aldobrandini palace, but its wealth of
greenery and the flush of its Judas trees in the
springtime, can be descried from the Via
Nazionale. The Brancaccio palace has the largest
gardens in Rome, with a beautiful show of palms.
They enclose several old ruins, remnants of the
Golden House of Nero, and the reservoir which
served the baths of Titus and of Trajan. From
these slopes a fine view is obtained of the
Colosseum, with the campagna beyond. The old
vineyards of the Esquiline have been turned into
shady walks, orange trees have been planted, and
lawn-tennis grounds laid out for gay young Romans
and Americans.
One of the comparatively little-visited villas is
that belonging to the Barberini family at Castel
Gandolfo, the grounds of which take up the whole
side of the hill reaching to Albano. The villa
garden is fu?J of vestiges of antiquity, and is an
example of the way in which the buildings of the
modern world were superimposed upon the decaying
sites of the classic era. This is believed in the later
times of the Republic to have been part of the
possessions of Claudius and of Pompey. Certainly
the Emperor Domitian had a magnificent country
house here, where he passed much of his time and
held assemblies of men of letters. The Amphi-
theatre where he used to behold the destruction
of a hundred wild beasts in a day, joined his gardens,
and the ruins of it can still be traced in an adjacent
vineyard. The upper part of the Barberini gardens
consists of three long walks, between which are
square hedges—at one end a flower garden. The
wall to the right is continued along a terrace,
raised over an immense gallery, which, no doubt,
is part of that of Domitian, that gallery described
by ancient authors, where he used to dispute with
his courtiers on political and historical subjects.
Some scraps of ornament still remain, fragments
of stucco and gilding. The general style is that
of the Temple of Peace in Rome, built by his
father, Vespasian. It is easy to make out, by
following the vestiges of a wall which evidently
bounded the gallery, that it must have been at
least a mile in extent. The avenues of the great
Cardinal, who revived the traditions of this villa,
are, in their way, nearly as striking. They are
shaded by noble ilexes, open to the west winds
and the setting sun, and it is impossible to imagine
more delightful walks. Fragments of cornices,
columns, antique marbles, and porphyry are found
in all directions, and small square pieces of glass,
or rather of paste, abound, and are remains of the
numberless mosaic pavements of the villa. At the
extremity of the walk is an antique statue of a river
god, and below is a grand old avenue of stone pines.
The picturesque stairway illustrated here is in
the garden of the Villa Borghese at Frascati. The
villa lies immediately below Mondragone, and is the
one which Ferdinando Taverna, Governor of Rome,
presented to Paul V. It was built for Cardinal
Borghese by the Roman architect, Girolamo Rai-
naldi, and a grand avenue of cypresses leads from
it to Mondragone. It has passed into the
possession of a family named Parisi, who now call
it by their name.
Villa Sciarra, on the Janiculum, which for
<renerations belonged to the Sciarra branch of the
great Colonna family, has lately been bought by
( i°5 J
IN the heart of the Corso you turn into the
courtyard of the Doria palace, most magnifi-
cent of private palaces. It used to he said
that a thousand persons lived under the roof,
exclusive of the gallery and private apartments,
which alone surpassed in extent the majority of
Royal residences. Here, in the cortile, built by
Valvason and Pietro da Cortona, there is a garden
with tall palm trees, stiff and stately, as befits the
surrounding architecture. Near Porta Pia are the
beautiful gardens of the English Embassy, rich in
tall cypresses and dark ilexes, and gay with the
flowers which a succession of English chatelaines have
encouraged there. In one part we come upon
a vista, wild with red poppies or purple
foxgloves, rising round a broken column, in
another a formal garden spreads its gay pattern.
The garden is bounded by the walls of old Rome,
and on the top of them a walk has been made,
from which there is an exquisite view over the
campagna and the Sabine and Alban hills seen
through the interstices of rose-covered pergolas.
Every visitor to Rome knows the imposing
entrance to the Barberini palace, but few penetrate
beyond Bernini's splendid gates and palace, and
mount the circular stair that leads to the old garden
lying on the slopes beyond. It has been encroached
on, upon either hand, by streets, but there still
remains a considerable stretch, a fine retaining wall
with balustrades decorated with rococo figures, and
where a gateway formerly opened, is a noble
umbrella pine.
No visitor is ever admitted into the precincts
of the Aldobrandini palace, but its wealth of
greenery and the flush of its Judas trees in the
springtime, can be descried from the Via
Nazionale. The Brancaccio palace has the largest
gardens in Rome, with a beautiful show of palms.
They enclose several old ruins, remnants of the
Golden House of Nero, and the reservoir which
served the baths of Titus and of Trajan. From
these slopes a fine view is obtained of the
Colosseum, with the campagna beyond. The old
vineyards of the Esquiline have been turned into
shady walks, orange trees have been planted, and
lawn-tennis grounds laid out for gay young Romans
and Americans.
One of the comparatively little-visited villas is
that belonging to the Barberini family at Castel
Gandolfo, the grounds of which take up the whole
side of the hill reaching to Albano. The villa
garden is fu?J of vestiges of antiquity, and is an
example of the way in which the buildings of the
modern world were superimposed upon the decaying
sites of the classic era. This is believed in the later
times of the Republic to have been part of the
possessions of Claudius and of Pompey. Certainly
the Emperor Domitian had a magnificent country
house here, where he passed much of his time and
held assemblies of men of letters. The Amphi-
theatre where he used to behold the destruction
of a hundred wild beasts in a day, joined his gardens,
and the ruins of it can still be traced in an adjacent
vineyard. The upper part of the Barberini gardens
consists of three long walks, between which are
square hedges—at one end a flower garden. The
wall to the right is continued along a terrace,
raised over an immense gallery, which, no doubt,
is part of that of Domitian, that gallery described
by ancient authors, where he used to dispute with
his courtiers on political and historical subjects.
Some scraps of ornament still remain, fragments
of stucco and gilding. The general style is that
of the Temple of Peace in Rome, built by his
father, Vespasian. It is easy to make out, by
following the vestiges of a wall which evidently
bounded the gallery, that it must have been at
least a mile in extent. The avenues of the great
Cardinal, who revived the traditions of this villa,
are, in their way, nearly as striking. They are
shaded by noble ilexes, open to the west winds
and the setting sun, and it is impossible to imagine
more delightful walks. Fragments of cornices,
columns, antique marbles, and porphyry are found
in all directions, and small square pieces of glass,
or rather of paste, abound, and are remains of the
numberless mosaic pavements of the villa. At the
extremity of the walk is an antique statue of a river
god, and below is a grand old avenue of stone pines.
The picturesque stairway illustrated here is in
the garden of the Villa Borghese at Frascati. The
villa lies immediately below Mondragone, and is the
one which Ferdinando Taverna, Governor of Rome,
presented to Paul V. It was built for Cardinal
Borghese by the Roman architect, Girolamo Rai-
naldi, and a grand avenue of cypresses leads from
it to Mondragone. It has passed into the
possession of a family named Parisi, who now call
it by their name.
Villa Sciarra, on the Janiculum, which for
<renerations belonged to the Sciarra branch of the
great Colonna family, has lately been bought by
( i°5 J