DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68272#0168
150 THE GARDENS OF ITALY.
One of the ways is a pleached alley. The main avenue leads to an oblong clearing about
ninety yards by forty-five yards. From the centre of the long side of this open space
and on the axis of the avenue the great cascade descends the hillside. The slope is upheld by
a long wall fifteen feet high, decorated with twenty-one arched niches, in front of which is a
narrow canal that expands into a large central basin (Fig. 163). You ascend through certain
niches, which are nine and fourteen in the series, giving access to vaulted stairways, and find
yourself at the level at which the cascade starts. It has a rise of seventy-four steps. At the head
of the cascade is a balcony commanding a fine view down the axis line of the approach. The
great cluster of trees backing the great terrace is distinct in the foreground. Immediately behind
is a pool basin about thirty-six yards across, set in a circular clearing and surrounded by trees
with stone seats at intervals.
Radiating paths are driven through the wood, and the axis line finishes by a path
leading to the boundary wall of the property. The villa itself is in a quiet Tuscan
156.—THE CENTRAL STAIRWAY UP TO THE GREAT TERRACE.
style. As seen from the avenue, it is an interesting composition ; the advanced wing on the
left acts as repeat of the tower-like mass on the right and gives an effect of balance without
symmetry. It is built of rough local stone plastered, with tufa piers and dressings, delightful
in colour and roughness. The villa has three storeys and a raised feature, forming a symmetrical
design on its western face. A forecourt about sixty yards square, laid out on this western
front, is entered from the main avenue. There is a semicircular bastion extension forty
yards across, which is balustraded round and commands a fine view over the hill slopes lying
below, from which it is built up. A raised basin, with a curvilinear body of built brickwork
with a stone curb, is flanked by two fine trees, and forms the centralising feature of this
forecourt. There are two wall fountains, with shells in their niche heads, set at an angle to
the entrance doorway of the villa. A. T. B.
The Colonna claim descent from the Conti, one of the oldest families in Italy. The last of
the race, kulvia Conti, married a Sforza in 1650, and by an alliance with the Sforza-Cesarini
One of the ways is a pleached alley. The main avenue leads to an oblong clearing about
ninety yards by forty-five yards. From the centre of the long side of this open space
and on the axis of the avenue the great cascade descends the hillside. The slope is upheld by
a long wall fifteen feet high, decorated with twenty-one arched niches, in front of which is a
narrow canal that expands into a large central basin (Fig. 163). You ascend through certain
niches, which are nine and fourteen in the series, giving access to vaulted stairways, and find
yourself at the level at which the cascade starts. It has a rise of seventy-four steps. At the head
of the cascade is a balcony commanding a fine view down the axis line of the approach. The
great cluster of trees backing the great terrace is distinct in the foreground. Immediately behind
is a pool basin about thirty-six yards across, set in a circular clearing and surrounded by trees
with stone seats at intervals.
Radiating paths are driven through the wood, and the axis line finishes by a path
leading to the boundary wall of the property. The villa itself is in a quiet Tuscan
156.—THE CENTRAL STAIRWAY UP TO THE GREAT TERRACE.
style. As seen from the avenue, it is an interesting composition ; the advanced wing on the
left acts as repeat of the tower-like mass on the right and gives an effect of balance without
symmetry. It is built of rough local stone plastered, with tufa piers and dressings, delightful
in colour and roughness. The villa has three storeys and a raised feature, forming a symmetrical
design on its western face. A forecourt about sixty yards square, laid out on this western
front, is entered from the main avenue. There is a semicircular bastion extension forty
yards across, which is balustraded round and commands a fine view over the hill slopes lying
below, from which it is built up. A raised basin, with a curvilinear body of built brickwork
with a stone curb, is flanked by two fine trees, and forms the centralising feature of this
forecourt. There are two wall fountains, with shells in their niche heads, set at an angle to
the entrance doorway of the villa. A. T. B.
The Colonna claim descent from the Conti, one of the oldest families in Italy. The last of
the race, kulvia Conti, married a Sforza in 1650, and by an alliance with the Sforza-Cesarini