DOI chapter:
IV. Villas near Rome
DOI chapter:III. Frascati
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61216#0215
VILLAS NEAR ROME
overgrown by shrubs and creepers, with busts and
other fragments of antique sculpture set here and there
on its projecting ledges. This natural cliff sustains an
upper plateau, where there is an oblong artificial water
(called “ the lake ”) enclosed in rock-work and sur-
rounded by a grove of mighty cypresses. From this
shady solitude the wooded slopes of the lower park are
reached by a double staircase so simple and majestic in
design that it harmonizes perfectly with the sylvan wild-
ness which characterizes the landscape. This staircase
should be studied as an example of the way in which
the Italian garden-architects could lay aside exuberance
and whimsicality when their work was intended to blend
with some broad or solemn effect of nature.
The grounds of the Villa Falconieri were laid out by
Cardinal Ruffini in the first half of the sixteenth century,
but the villa was not built till 1648. It is one of the
most charming creations of Borromini, that brilliant
artist in whom baroque architecture found its happiest
expression ; and the Villa Falconieri makes one regret
that he did not oftener exercise his fancy in the con-
struction of such pleasure-houses. The elevation
follows the tradition of the Roman villa suburbana.
The centre of the ground floor is an arcaded loggia,
the roof of which forms a terrace to the recessed story
above; while the central motive of this first story is
another semicircular recess, adorned with stucco orna-
ment and surmounted by a broken pediment. The
163
overgrown by shrubs and creepers, with busts and
other fragments of antique sculpture set here and there
on its projecting ledges. This natural cliff sustains an
upper plateau, where there is an oblong artificial water
(called “ the lake ”) enclosed in rock-work and sur-
rounded by a grove of mighty cypresses. From this
shady solitude the wooded slopes of the lower park are
reached by a double staircase so simple and majestic in
design that it harmonizes perfectly with the sylvan wild-
ness which characterizes the landscape. This staircase
should be studied as an example of the way in which
the Italian garden-architects could lay aside exuberance
and whimsicality when their work was intended to blend
with some broad or solemn effect of nature.
The grounds of the Villa Falconieri were laid out by
Cardinal Ruffini in the first half of the sixteenth century,
but the villa was not built till 1648. It is one of the
most charming creations of Borromini, that brilliant
artist in whom baroque architecture found its happiest
expression ; and the Villa Falconieri makes one regret
that he did not oftener exercise his fancy in the con-
struction of such pleasure-houses. The elevation
follows the tradition of the Roman villa suburbana.
The centre of the ground floor is an arcaded loggia,
the roof of which forms a terrace to the recessed story
above; while the central motive of this first story is
another semicircular recess, adorned with stucco orna-
ment and surmounted by a broken pediment. The
163