The Italian Garden:
In the area, at the top of the park, there is the Italian Garden. Its features are still of the 1500's or 1600's, as it is proved by its ending in exedra shape which is a spatial solution derived from the larger mannerist gardens, and it is also present in the nearby Villa Reale of Marlia.
The Orsetti family owned both these villas, from the second half of the 1600's to the beginning of the 1800's. It is a terraced garden, and it is symmetrical in almost every detail, from the obelisk shaped Magnolia trees, on the first level, to the Vases of Lemon Trees on the second.
The Mosaics, made of rock crystals, foundry losses, quartz and tufa, which cover the Balustrade, in Matraia stone and white "statuary marble", separate the two levels. In the wall, at intervals, there are four demi-lune Fountains, where water spouts happily out of the mouths of Grotesque Masks, two in terracotta and two in bronze.
The two in bronze represent the head of Satiro and date back to the late Florentine mannerism; this work of art is quite valuable, and is attributed to Pietro Tacca (1577-1640). The balustrade is divided in the middle by a few steps, made of Matraia stone, again on the central axes of the Villa, which allow the access to the upper terrace through an antique wrought iron gate.
Two big marble Watch-Dogs stand on the steps in front of this garden just as two others are in front of the garden "à l'anglaise". On the upper terrace of the garden are two large oval lawns encircled by over 70 antique lemon trees, most of which in their original 18th and 19th century vases, known in Italy as "conche".
Each vase is stamped either with the initials "E.C.", for Enrico Cittadella, or with a coat of arms representing the family who commissioned them. This is a proof of the presents and the exchanges between the villas from 16th century onwards, owing to marriages and inheritances. Beyond the oval lawns stands a large circular fountain from which mountain water spouts perennially.
In the middle of the fountain, once there was a big Grotesque Figure in stone. It represents a Tortoise that holds a dragon with a human head and a mascaron behind, while an elephant trunk gets out of his mouth: water spouted out of the mouth and ears of the dragon. This terrifying concoction, similar to the grotesque masks one sees in the garden of Villa Bomarzo, near Viterbo, is now placed in one of the wood's clearings, between the circular fountain and the lemon house, as the continuous pressure of water was eroding its surface.
The Tortoise, which is a sea animal consecrated to Pan, appears here surmounted by a monstrous figure in which human being and animal mix together to create a worrying hybrid form; it also has the characteristic that it can be observed by all directions, each of which gives a vision of great effect. The presence of animal sculptures is prevalently tied to water, as it was a constant of the gardens in the 1500's and 1600's. Surrounding the upper terrace of the garden "à l' Italienne" is the undulated hedge, which embraces the garden like a gigantic screen with convex waves, stimulating, with its provisional and open limits, the distances of the surrounding hill landscape.
It is interrupted, here and there, by white Female Statues, made of "statuary marble", on pedestals, which were once in the garden of the neighbouring Villa Diodati. The statues represent, amongst others, Ceres - Goddess of the Harvest, Venus - Goddess of Love, and Pomona - Goddess of Fruits. Typical of the romantic period, in which the Italian garden was created, are the Shady Paths which twist their way mysteriously through the undergrowth of the hedges, from one end of the garden to the other, only with little clearings, at intervals, where Stone Benches and sometimes Tables entice the stroller into stopping and spending some time there. In a particular clearing, near the Greenhouse, there is a large Table in marble which allows to imagine the time when guests stopped there to have a rest, after a long lazy summer lunch.
