Italian Gardens

By Charles A. Platt

“The first steps of one interested in the formal style of landscape architecture should be directed to Italy.” So wrote the great American designer Charles Platt in his introduction to his book, Italian Gardens, first published in 1894. Platt's words proved influential.

Devoted solely to the topic of the Italian villa landscape, the handsomely illustrated volume quickly found an eager readership among American architects, landscape designers, and their clients. As the first publication in English on the topic, Italian Gardens appealed to a public increasingly intrigued by the question of what the new American garden might look like.

Platt's book also turned a national spotlight on his own fledgling architectural career, transforming him into one of the most sought-after designers in the country. Perhaps no volume in the history of American landscape architecture has had so far-reaching an effect.

The book offered far more than just specific design motifs to gardeners and architects. Elegant photographs painted a picture of a celebratory indoor/outdoor lifestyle. The text indirectly prescribed a specific relationship between the residential landscape and architecture. Platt saw the genius in the Italian concept of a garden as a series of rooms, or apartments, “where one,” he reported, “might walk about and find a place suitable to the hour of the day and feeling of the moment, and still be in that sacred portion of the globe dedicated to one's self.” American designers took Platt's observations and images to heart, and made extensive use of them.-Print ed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barakaldo Books
• Release date: May 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781839747106

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© Barakaldo Books 2020, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

ITALIAN GARDENS

BY

CHARLES A. PLATT

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 9

ILLUSTRATIONS 10

INTRODUCTORY 14

VILLA LANTE 21

VILLA BORGHESE 29

VILLA PAMFILI 31

VILLA ALBANI 35

QUIRINAL GARDENS 38

COLONNA GARDENS 40

VILLA MEDICI 44

VILLA MATTEI 48

VILLA D’ESTE 50

VILLA ALDOBRANDINI 59

VILLA CONTI 63

VILLA FALCONIERI 66

VILLA MUTI 70

VILLA FALCONIERI 75

VILLA PORTICI 78

CAPRAROLA 82

BOBOLI GARDENS 84

CASTELLO 88

GUISTI GARDENS 94

CONCLUSION 96

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 97

ILLUSTRATIONS

HERMES

HEDGE WALK, QUIRINAL GARDENS

HEAD-PIECE

PLAN OF VILLA MATTEI

PAVILION, VILLA LANTE

TAIL-PIECE

SEAT IN A BOX WALK

OVERGROWN STATUARY

A TYPICAL VILLA PAVILION

TERRACE CASINO OF AN ITALIAN GARDEN

TAIL-PIECE—OLD PRINT OF AN ITALIAN GARDEN

FOUNTAIN AND FLOWER GARDEN, VILLA LANTE

CENTRAL FOUNTAIN, VILLA LANTE

IN THE GARDEN, VILLA LANTE

CASINO STAIRWAY, VILLA LANTE

SWAN FOUNTAIN, VILLA LANTE

PIAZZA DI SIENA, VILLA BORGHESE

FLOWER GARDEN, VILLA PAMFILI

TAIL-PIECE—BIRD’S-EYE VIEW, VILLA PAMFILI

CYPRESS HEDGE, VILLA ALBANI

GENERAL VIEW OF GARDENS, VILLA ALBANI

AN OVERGROWN CORNER

THE COLONNA FLOWER GARDENS

CYPRESSES, COLONNA GARDENS

THE VILLA MEDICI

THE BOX WALK, VILLA MEDICI

AN OLD ALLEY, VILLA MΑΤΤΕΙ

PONDS ON THE LOWER TERRACE, VILLA D’ESTE

VIEW FROM TOP OF PORCH, VILLA D’ESTE

STAIRWAY AND FOUNTAIN, VILLA D’ESTE

IN THE GARDENS, VILLA D’ESTE

TAIL-PIECE

A WOOD PATH

TAIL-PIECE—OLD PRINT OF A GARDEN

STEPS TO THE TERRACE, VILLA CONTI

IN THE GARDENS, VILLA FALCONIERI

ASCENT TO THE RESERVOIR, VILLA FALCONIERI

GATEWAY, VILLA MUTI

A FRASCATI RESERVOIR

OLD GATE, VILLA MUTI

THE ENTRANCE, VILLA FALCONIERI

VILLA AND GARDEN, VILLA FALCONIERI

THE BOSQUET, VILLA PORTICI

GARDEN GATE, VILLA PORTICI

GARDEN WALL, VILLA CAPRAROLA

IN THE BOBOLI GARDENS

GATEWAY, BOBOLI GARDENS

IN THE FLOWER-GARDEN, VILLA CASTELLO

CENTRAL FOUNTAIN, VILLA CASTELLO

TERRACE WALL, VILLA CASTELLO

THE GUISTI GARDEN

TAIL-PIECE

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INTRODUCTORY

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