Wharton, Edith; Parrish, Maxfield [Ill.]: Italian villas and their gardens (London: John Lane, 1904)

ITALIAN VILLAS
a vegetable-garden, is backed by the low fagade of the
lemon-house, or stanzone, which is an adjunct of every
Italian villa. Here the lemon and orange trees, the
camellias and other semi-tender shrubs, are stored in
winter, to be set out in May in their red earthen jars on
the stone slabs which border the walks of all old Italian
gardens.
The plan of the Gamberaia has been described thus
in detail because it combines in an astonishingly small
space, yet without the least sense of overcrowding,
almost every typical excellence of the old Italian garden:
free circulation of sunlight and air about the house;
abundance of water; easy access to dense shade ; shel-
tered walks with different points of view; variety of
effect produced by the skilful use of different levels;
and, finally, breadth and simplicity of composition.
Here, also, may be noted in its fullest expression that
principle of old gardening which the modern “land-
scapist” has most completely unlearned, namely, the
value of subdivision of spaces. Whereas the modern
gardener’s one idea of producing an effect of space is to
annihilate his boundaries, and not only to merge into
one another the necessary divisions of the garden, but
also to blend this vague whole with the landscape, the
old garden-architect proceeded on the opposite principle,
arguing that, as the garden is but the prolongation of
the house, and as a house containing a single huge
room would be less interesting and less serviceable than
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