DOI chapter:
V. Genoese villas
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61216#0241
ITALIAN VILLAS
which may be seen in Rubens’s collection) is in site
and design a typical Genoese suburban house of the
sixteenth century. The lower story has a series of
arched windows between Ionic pilasters; above are
square-headed windows with upper lights, divided by
fluted Corinthian pilasters and surmounted by a beau-
tiful cornice and a roof-balustrade of unusual design,
in which groups of balusters alternate with oblong
panels of richly carved openwork. The very slightly
projecting wings have, on both stories, arched recesses
in which heroic statues are painted in grisaille.
The narrow ledge of ground on which the villa is
built permits only of a broad terrace in front of the house,
with a central basin surmounted by a beautiful winged
figure and enclosed in stone-edged flower-beds. Stately
flights of steps lead down to a lower terrace, of which
the mighty retaining-wall is faced by a Doric portico,
with a recessed loggia behind it. From this level other
flights of steps, flanked by great balustraded walls nearly
a hundred feet high, descend to a third terrace, narrower
than the others, whence one looks down into lower-
lying gardens, wedged into every projecting shelf of
ground between palace roofs and towering slopes of
masonry; while directly beneath this crowded foreground
sparkles the blue expanse of the Mediterranean.
On a higher ledge, above the Villa Pallavicini, lies the
Villa Durazzo-Grapollo, perhaps also a work of Alessi’s.
Here the unusual extent of ground about the house has
186
which may be seen in Rubens’s collection) is in site
and design a typical Genoese suburban house of the
sixteenth century. The lower story has a series of
arched windows between Ionic pilasters; above are
square-headed windows with upper lights, divided by
fluted Corinthian pilasters and surmounted by a beau-
tiful cornice and a roof-balustrade of unusual design,
in which groups of balusters alternate with oblong
panels of richly carved openwork. The very slightly
projecting wings have, on both stories, arched recesses
in which heroic statues are painted in grisaille.
The narrow ledge of ground on which the villa is
built permits only of a broad terrace in front of the house,
with a central basin surmounted by a beautiful winged
figure and enclosed in stone-edged flower-beds. Stately
flights of steps lead down to a lower terrace, of which
the mighty retaining-wall is faced by a Doric portico,
with a recessed loggia behind it. From this level other
flights of steps, flanked by great balustraded walls nearly
a hundred feet high, descend to a third terrace, narrower
than the others, whence one looks down into lower-
lying gardens, wedged into every projecting shelf of
ground between palace roofs and towering slopes of
masonry; while directly beneath this crowded foreground
sparkles the blue expanse of the Mediterranean.
On a higher ledge, above the Villa Pallavicini, lies the
Villa Durazzo-Grapollo, perhaps also a work of Alessi’s.
Here the unusual extent of ground about the house has
186