Some early literary references to Italian gardens

Abstract

Abstract Isa Belli Barsali1 has drawn our attention to Ulisse Aldrovandi's Statue di Roma 2 as a source of information on 16th-century gardens in Rome; and to her well-chosen quotations from Aldrovandi (Statue, pp. 298–301) might be added his eulogistic conclusion on the exemplary nature of the garden in the vigna of his patron, Cardinal Rodolfo Pio di Carpi: ‘this beautiful garden is a unique example of which all should take heed, as a model, who have the desire, or thought, of making a villa in the country which will give them pleasure’ (p. 310). And there are other interesting references, for instance to the famous Cesi garden (p. 136) and to the garden of Stefano dal Bufalo, with its many antique sculptures, its rustic fountain, ‘bizarra e vaghissima’, and its ‘fonticella’ with a recumbent antique statue of a beautiful young woman (pp. 287–289).3