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<\/a>The view down the central axis of Villa d’Este shows the town of Tivoli immediately outside\u00a0the garden and the mountains in the distance beyond.<\/p><\/div>\n
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The world created for Cardinal Ippolita d\u2019Este may be held tightly within its\u00a0walls but the references extend far beyond. Designed by Pirro Ligorio, the leading antiquarian of his generation, the garden is full of erudite allusions, reflecting the cult of antiquity which played so major a role in\u00a0Italian Renaissance gardens.<\/p>\n
Unschooled as most of us now are in the intricacies of these allusions, their meanings escape us — unless we have a guide who points them out or we ourselves have read about and remembered their significance. Some symbols once identified are unmistakable, like the d\u2019Este eagle that flies high on many a pillar and post.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The eagle atop the Owl Fountain is one symbol of the powerful d’Este family. The fleur-de-lys is another.<\/p><\/div>\n
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We don\u2019t need to understand the references, though, to enjoy the spectacle. When water makes organs play (even if slightly off pitch), when it shoots to heights that rival the cypress trees growing nearby, when it roars in a grotto or whispers along a stone balustrade, amazement and pleasure are the happy results.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Sprays of water rise into the air,\u00a0mirroring in white the shape of the dark cypress beyond.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Water was what impressed Edith Wharton when she visited the garden in the 1890s. \u201cEvery side path or flight of steps is accompanied by its sparkling rill, every niche in the retaining walls has its water-pouring nymph or gushing urn \u2026 and the versatility with which the stream is used, the varying effects won from it, bear witness to the imaginative feeling of the designer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Undoubtedly the most photographed water feature at Villa d’Este is the All\u00e9e of a Hundred Fountains. (Apparently there are actually 200; not having counted, I can\u2019t vouch for either number.) This water dance is situated on one of garden\u2019s main cross-axes, an avenue 426 feet long. On three tiers, water symbolizing three local rivers rises, falls, sprays and spits. When newly built,\u00a0each tier was as\u00a0crisply edged as the recently renovated Organ Fountain; now moss and lady\u2019s mantle cushion\u00a0the edges\u00a0with\u00a0green.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The All\u00e9e of a Hundred Fountains never fails to impress.<\/p><\/div>\n
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The garden is laid out on a right-angled grid, divided into regular, geometrically-determined units, as were many gardens of the period. Unlike other sites, however, at Villa d’Este the central axis is not the sole\u00a0governing feature, nor are the two sides of the central axis identical. Cross-paths appear throughout, and not as minor elements but as major paths that lead to the garden’s primary points of interest.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The bottom portion of the Organ Fountain stands at the end of a major cross axis. Notice the d’Este eagle silhouetted against the sky.<\/p><\/div>\n
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The result is a layout that forces visitors to determine\u00a0their own route. At every junction, you have to make a choice: shall I go this way or that? Being forced\u00a0to choose shapes your experience of the garden. You are\u00a0engaged with it\u00a0directly, engaged spatially in a way that is impossible in uni-directional sites.<\/p>\n
Being forced to choose makes some people anxious. What will I miss if I turn right instead of left? Shall I go\u00a0this way first and then retrace my steps? Hold on, let me consult my map. And suddenly, all attention goes to the printed page rather than to the extraordinary space that surrounds you.<\/p>\n
(Don’t get me wrong, I know\u00a0that maps are helpful tools. \u00a0But it is far too easy to become buried in them and to allow them to \u00ab\u00a0flatten out the hills and valleys of actual experience,\u00a0\u00bb to use Thomas Oles’s words.)<\/p>\n
For those willing to let go of these anxieties and wander at will, the first visit to a garden can be magic. Exploring with no constraints, you experience the garden in your own way, at your own pace, in your own style. But not everyone is a wanderer, and not everyone is willing or able to let go. This is particularly difficult when you are part of a group. It’s even harder when you are the leader.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>This statue of Romulus and Remus with the She-Wolf is in the Disney-like Rometta, a miniature representation of some of Rome’s landmarks. It stands at one end of a cross axis, in opposition to the Oval Fountain where an\u00a0 imposing Mount Parnassus appears, linking\u00a0Cardinal d’Este and Tivoli to the source of creativity and, by implication, diminishing the importance of Rome.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Visiting a garden with a guide can be a wonderfully enriching experience, but it does have its down side. A guided tour of a garden eliminates both the need to choose and the freedom to experience the garden on your own. It can be a practical decision: you won\u2019t waste time standing in line at the entry (a big factor at Villa d’Este), retracing your steps or wondering what lies along the other path, and you can learn a lot if you devote your attention to what the guide is saying.<\/p>\n
You learn facts from a\u00a0guide, and if the guide is really good, those facts help you to understand the garden, its makers and its context. What you learn on your own is different.<\/p>\n
Or at least it can be. When I move\u00a0through a garden on my own, I look more closely at what is in front of me, whether it is a plant, a fountain or a choice of routes. Focusing on what I see, I begin to form questions. Who are those figures holding up the columns? Why do the women have twisted legs? Where does the water come from, and where does it go?<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The twisted legs of these figures suggest a transition\u00a0\u00a0between animal and human being.. Metamorphosis and change are underlying themes of Villa d’Este.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Villa d’Este is a garden that repays this kind of wandering. On my visit a few weeks ago, I saw a cat wandering along a shady path, avoiding noisy groups of schoolchildren. I tried to imagine how those children would have reacted to a music-playing fountain in the days before computer and piped music made such things ordinary. I admired how the still waters of the fish ponds provided a welcome rest from the constant exuberance of the fountains.<\/p>\n
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