Large Garden in Tiny Town

Saturday morning we took a double decker train to Villa Lante in Bagnaia, Italy. Villa Lante is a large garden that was built during the Renaissance period. At the very top there was a fountain that represented the end of the Golden Age. It was a flood. Here is a photo.

There were two buildings on the side of it. They were used for outdoor receptions. A little bit lower, there was another fountain surrounded by bushes and hollow trees. Unfortunately, it was blocked off. Coming from that came something called a "Water Chain". Here is a photo of that. This photo is from the top of the water chain, looking down toward the continuation of the fountain.

The Water Chain carried water to yet another fountain. This one had two large statues on each side of it. They represented the River Gods. This photo only shows one of the River Gods. There was another one on the other side. The entire fountain and garden was symmetrical. The bottom part of the garden was symmetrical horizontally and vertically. See the photo.

At the bottom there was another fountain that represented the lakes. This part of the garden was enormous. In the four sections of the fountain that represented the lakes, there was a boat in each section. In each boat was a sailor that spouted water from his gun. This represented naval battles.

There is really nothing like this in South Bend. The only thing I can compare it to is the landscaping at Copshaholm. It is a little bit like that because it is a formal garden. But Copshaholm has no fountains. I really enjoyed seeing it.

-Paul