Gardens

Many villa gardens in Italy were intended to replicate the ancient Roman garden, with cypress, myrtle, pomegranates, fig trees, boxwoods, and pungent or sweet herbs and flowers such as lavender, rosemary, narcissus, and violets. Although no ancient gardens survived as such into the Renaissance, patrons and architects could read about Roman gardens in classical texts. (Today our visual knowledge of Roman gardens has greatly benefited from the frescoes discovered at Pompei in the 18th century.) Cicero mentioned the serenity of his garden near the river by his country house, and Ovid claimed that he was inspired while working in his garden. Ancient writers wrote in detail about several aspects of gardening. Topiary, for example, was described by Pliny the Elder as popular in ancient villa gardens. This garden art was revived in Italy during the 15th century to create ornamental shapes such as ships and animals. In French and English Renaissance gardens these shaped bushes and shrubs often were geometrical rather than representational. Serlio in his 1537 treatise on architecture included a section pertaining to garden design that featured illustrations of geometrical plantings.

Water played an important role in the plantings designed for Italian villa gardens. Suburban villas near aqueducts could have water piped into the property, permitting the inclusion of several fountains and lush, exotic greenery. More remote villas did not always have predictable sources of continuous water. Their gardens required larger trees and ground cover that would be able to sustain several seasons of drought. Even in remote areas, however, Italian villa gardens usually included at least one fountain with antique-style statuary. Some of this statuary functioned as automata, moving as water flowed through them. French gardens used less water than those in Italy, partly because villa and palace gardens in France were designed on relatively flat terrain; there were fewer areas that allowed water to flow from one level to another. Whereas Italian gardens favored cascades, if not torrents, of water when it was available, gardens in France were more restrained in the use of water. Another difference in French villa gardens of the early Renaissance was the creation of parterres (discrete areas with their own design), often with a separate gazebo or small pavilion, that usually could be viewed from the villa. Several important Italian villas, such as the Villa Far-nese, had a “secret garden,” “wild garden,” or “garden of love.” Their decoration is mentioned in chapter 3 Sculpture, (see page 83).