PROXIMITY to Rome means that the Lazio is rich in the great houses built for prelates and princely families. Some seek to dominate their territory. The Villa Lante, by contrast, is almost casual in its relation to the small town of Bagnaia, just east of Viterbo, whose inhabitants still seem to live in their narrow streets despite the intrusion of a busy road.
Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Gambara, who became Bishop of Viterbo in 1566 and died in 1587, was a man of subtle taste. For his summer residence he, like his all-powerful neighbours the Farnese at Caprarola, called in an architect of genius, Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. Work on the formal garden was begun in 1568 using craftsmen previously employed at Caprarola, but not completed until ten years later, when Vignola himself was dead. The design took full advantage of the sloping site, with a sequence of fountains and channels framed by hedges set on three terraces among trees. The contrasts of architectural formality and the inherently informal – water and trees – express the spirit of the Renaissance garden, and the sound of the water is omnipresent. Below are the twin pavilions that constitute the villa. The first – on the right – is contemporary with the garden and was also projected by Vignola; this was Gambara’s retreat. Its counterpart, faithfully copied from Vignola’s design, was built for Gambara’s successor, Cardinal Alessandro Montalto, who held Bagnaia from 1590 until 1612.
The Villa Lante is a magic place. It is difficult to tear oneself away. But many visitors will wish to visit the very different and slightly earlier garden at Bomarzo, some thirteen kilometres to the east. This was conceived by Vicino Orsini, who inherited the cliff-top castle that still dominates the valley in which he laid out his ‘sacro bosco’. The site was scattered with natural outcrops of volcanic stone (peperino) from which bizarre statues of giants, monsters, animals and other subjects were carved. The modern entrance is unworthy, and the place is disturbing, even oppressive. It is the creation of an eccentric who was touched with genius.
Villa Lante: the ‘chain’ of water.
Villa Lante: the Fontana dello Quadrato.
