Winter Gardens: Public Gardens and Parks.—Rome is richly endowed with open spaces and gardens. Good views of the city may be obtained in the gardens of the Pincio, Janiculum, Quirinal, and Aventine. The garden of Villa Celimontana on the Caelian is noteworthy for its wide views toward the Alban Hills. The gardens of villas include those of the Villa Borghese, Villa Doria Pamphili, Villa Sciarra, and Villa Medici. Although many other gardens with their villas have been destroyed by the growth of the city, a law of 1883 has actively promoted public gardens, so that there are now over 7,600 acres of public gardens and parks in the city, in addition to ornamental avenues.
Two gardens in this book have no perimeters: The autumn and the Winter Gardens garden. One reason is that many of the plants involved in each of the collections are bushes or trees that take more land to be adequately sited. The other reason is that the fall, like the Winter Gardens in many parts of the country, is only a state of mind. My fall has colored leaves, morning mists, hunting season with sometimes a thin layer of snow upon the ground, and crisp, cold nights followed by days of intense blue skies patterned only slightly by clouds. |