DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68272#0260
242
THE GARDENS OF ITALY.
was capable, to contrast the imposing grandeur of the first with the charming elegance of the
second.
We can imagine the courtly old Cardinal gloating over the plans and watching the progress
of the workmen with an impatient eye ; but he was not destined to see the fulfilment of his
dreams. Pope Gregory XIII, hearing much of the beauties of the villa, proposed to pay it a
visit, and the Cardinal made extensive preparations to receive him. The first of the twin
buildings was finished. Vignola’s design for the gardens was partly carried out ; but the Pope,
not being able to fulfil his proposed intention, sent in his stead that well meaning killjoy, San Carlo
Borrommeo. The Cardinal showed him all over the estate—the new buildings, the grounds
and the woods—no doubt shaking in his shoes, and trying to minimise its splendours, San Carlo
meantime was looking at and counting the cost, while thinking of the poverty-stricken borgo
lying on the hillside below. His trenchant remark was rightly construed as an order and a
sentence : “ The money spent on this would have been better employed in erecting a hospital
252.—THE NORTH WALK, VILLA LANTE.
tor the benefit of the poor of Viterbo.” Cardinal Gambara had not the wit of his neighbour,
Cardinal Farnese, who, to such a stricture, replied : “ I did give it them, but I made them earn
it with the sweat of their brow.” He accepted the reproof and suggestion with politic readiness ;
the second villa was not built in his day, but a hospital was raised in Viterbo, and a large sum of
money spent upon the Cathedral. The house as he built it is square and comfortable, a good,
simple work of the Renaissance, with moderate-sized vaulted rooms. Outside it is of a beautiful
mellow grey stone, treated in slight relief and adorned with the Cardinal’s armorial bearings,
in which the crab (Italian Gambara) takes a conspicuous place. The ceilings were decorated by
the brothers Zuccari, and are in their most restrained and harmonious style. The Holy See
made many requests to the Cardinal to make over his right in the property, which had been
specially accorded to him by Pius V, but he persistently refused, and kept it as his own, living
there and enjoying “ his delight,” as he called it, until his death in 1587. His successor. Cardinal
Casale, however, agreed to bequeath it to the See of Rome, by whom in future it was lent to the
Bishops of Viterbo.
THE GARDENS OF ITALY.
was capable, to contrast the imposing grandeur of the first with the charming elegance of the
second.
We can imagine the courtly old Cardinal gloating over the plans and watching the progress
of the workmen with an impatient eye ; but he was not destined to see the fulfilment of his
dreams. Pope Gregory XIII, hearing much of the beauties of the villa, proposed to pay it a
visit, and the Cardinal made extensive preparations to receive him. The first of the twin
buildings was finished. Vignola’s design for the gardens was partly carried out ; but the Pope,
not being able to fulfil his proposed intention, sent in his stead that well meaning killjoy, San Carlo
Borrommeo. The Cardinal showed him all over the estate—the new buildings, the grounds
and the woods—no doubt shaking in his shoes, and trying to minimise its splendours, San Carlo
meantime was looking at and counting the cost, while thinking of the poverty-stricken borgo
lying on the hillside below. His trenchant remark was rightly construed as an order and a
sentence : “ The money spent on this would have been better employed in erecting a hospital
252.—THE NORTH WALK, VILLA LANTE.
tor the benefit of the poor of Viterbo.” Cardinal Gambara had not the wit of his neighbour,
Cardinal Farnese, who, to such a stricture, replied : “ I did give it them, but I made them earn
it with the sweat of their brow.” He accepted the reproof and suggestion with politic readiness ;
the second villa was not built in his day, but a hospital was raised in Viterbo, and a large sum of
money spent upon the Cathedral. The house as he built it is square and comfortable, a good,
simple work of the Renaissance, with moderate-sized vaulted rooms. Outside it is of a beautiful
mellow grey stone, treated in slight relief and adorned with the Cardinal’s armorial bearings,
in which the crab (Italian Gambara) takes a conspicuous place. The ceilings were decorated by
the brothers Zuccari, and are in their most restrained and harmonious style. The Holy See
made many requests to the Cardinal to make over his right in the property, which had been
specially accorded to him by Pius V, but he persistently refused, and kept it as his own, living
there and enjoying “ his delight,” as he called it, until his death in 1587. His successor. Cardinal
Casale, however, agreed to bequeath it to the See of Rome, by whom in future it was lent to the
Bishops of Viterbo.