| La Bella Italia
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The
third stage,
North from Rome: Villa Lante,
Viterbo, lake country to Cortona, Siena, San
Gimignano
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| Villa
Lonte, Bagnaia, north of Rome
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| In the eyes of many,
this is the consummate example of the best period in the history of
garden design: the Mannerist phase of the Italian renaissance. It was
designed for Cardinal Gambara, who had a modern taste for outdoor living
and eating al fresco. The buildings are treated as garden ornaments,
illustrating a good principle, and the overall design is attributed to
Vignola. It uses the Palladian circle and square. Every aspect of the
garden is perfectly proportioned and richly detailed: a square terrace
subdivided into smaller squares, a water parterre, a wonderful fountain
in a central position. Design ideas are drawn from earlier projects. The
geometry was inspired by the Belvedere at the Vatican; the use of water
by the Villa d’Este; the circular island echos Hadrian’s ‘marine
theatre’ at Tivoli and the isolette at the Boboli.
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The
famed Fountain of the Cardinal's Table
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Chiesa
Della S.S. Trinita, Church of the Three Trinities, Viterbo
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Maria
Santissima Liberatrice: Mary, Saint of Liberty
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Lago
di Bolsena (Bolsena Lake)
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The green of
Italy
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Lago
di Chiusi (Lake
Chiusi)
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Cortona, home of
'Under the Tuscan Sun'
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"From
a high Tuscan hill, fifty miles from Florence between Arezzo and Perugia,
rises the equally ancient and nobile city of Cortona. Before the city lies
a vast and beautiful plain, it is flanked on either side by distant hills
and valleys while behind it are towering yet fruitful mountains. Cortona
has a picturesque aspect, quite a bit longer than wide, turned toward the
midday sun. Her district is fertile and is abundant with all that is
necessary to human life. " This
is the description of Cortona in one of the first known guidebooks,
compiled by Giacomo Lauro and printed in Rome in 1639.
It holds true today. It hold
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Bramasole, site of
'Under the Tuscan Sun', outside Cortona
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Siena
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The Towers of San
Gimignano
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