DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68272#0097
THE GARDENS OF ITALY.
79
CHAPTER VII.
GARDENS OF THE QUIRINAL, AND SOME STREET
FOUNTAINS IN ROME.
' | ^HE long, central garden, of which passers-by can catch a glimpse beyond the guarded
gates, runs the whole width of the grounds, and is flanked on either side by towering
walls of close-clipped box and bay. These must be at least thirty feet high and of
great width, with shady roads cut within them. Huge old ilex trees grow at intervals
and throw their distorted black arms in all directions. These are more than three hundred
years old, and are part of the garden which was
originally planted here by Ippolito, Cardinal of Este,
adjoining his town house ; his country seat being
the famous Villa d’Este at Tivoli. These long and
lofty bocages map out the garden, and between
their ranks are lawns and parterres and the most
goodly show of palm trees to be seen anywhere in
Italy, unless it may be in Villa Pamphilj Doria. The
larger ones would take two men to clasp their trunks.
The garden is full of old Roman and Renaissance
remains — sarcophagi, garden figures and vases.
A great part of the garden has been turned into a
riding-ground, which, of course, cannot be anything
but unsightly. Looking upon this is the palazzina
in which are the apartments occupied by the Royal
Family, at the opposite end of the garden from the
palace proper.
It is absolutely quiet in the Royal garden.
Nothing can be heard to tell us that we are in the
very heart of a great capital. The distant chime
of bells, the twittering of birds are the only sounds
that reach our ears. A charming little parterre runs
along the terrace which overlooks the distant town,
and is fenced in by rose hedges on one side while
on the other are masses of sweet peas trained to
make a thick wall of shaded colour. From the
terrace, on which are groups of garden statuary,
the view extends over Rome, with St. Peter’s
towering on the Vatican hill and the fortress of
Monte Mario rising to the west. Lean over the
balustrade and the remains of a huge grotto may
be seen in the courtyard below, with an organ
fountain, evidently a relic of the old pleasure-ground
of Cardinal d’Este, recalling as it does the splendid
structure with which he decorated the slopes of Tivoli.
Felice Peretti, after he had quarrelled with all
the monks of Naples, in the sixteenth century,
90.—QUIRINAL PLAN OF THE PALACE.
MONTE CAVALLO, ROME.
79
CHAPTER VII.
GARDENS OF THE QUIRINAL, AND SOME STREET
FOUNTAINS IN ROME.
' | ^HE long, central garden, of which passers-by can catch a glimpse beyond the guarded
gates, runs the whole width of the grounds, and is flanked on either side by towering
walls of close-clipped box and bay. These must be at least thirty feet high and of
great width, with shady roads cut within them. Huge old ilex trees grow at intervals
and throw their distorted black arms in all directions. These are more than three hundred
years old, and are part of the garden which was
originally planted here by Ippolito, Cardinal of Este,
adjoining his town house ; his country seat being
the famous Villa d’Este at Tivoli. These long and
lofty bocages map out the garden, and between
their ranks are lawns and parterres and the most
goodly show of palm trees to be seen anywhere in
Italy, unless it may be in Villa Pamphilj Doria. The
larger ones would take two men to clasp their trunks.
The garden is full of old Roman and Renaissance
remains — sarcophagi, garden figures and vases.
A great part of the garden has been turned into a
riding-ground, which, of course, cannot be anything
but unsightly. Looking upon this is the palazzina
in which are the apartments occupied by the Royal
Family, at the opposite end of the garden from the
palace proper.
It is absolutely quiet in the Royal garden.
Nothing can be heard to tell us that we are in the
very heart of a great capital. The distant chime
of bells, the twittering of birds are the only sounds
that reach our ears. A charming little parterre runs
along the terrace which overlooks the distant town,
and is fenced in by rose hedges on one side while
on the other are masses of sweet peas trained to
make a thick wall of shaded colour. From the
terrace, on which are groups of garden statuary,
the view extends over Rome, with St. Peter’s
towering on the Vatican hill and the fortress of
Monte Mario rising to the west. Lean over the
balustrade and the remains of a huge grotto may
be seen in the courtyard below, with an organ
fountain, evidently a relic of the old pleasure-ground
of Cardinal d’Este, recalling as it does the splendid
structure with which he decorated the slopes of Tivoli.
Felice Peretti, after he had quarrelled with all
the monks of Naples, in the sixteenth century,
90.—QUIRINAL PLAN OF THE PALACE.
MONTE CAVALLO, ROME.