The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia

Villa Gamberaia, Settignano (1610) The Villa Gamberaia is located on the outskirts of the hillside town of Settignano, about five kilometers from Fiesole, the setting for some of the earliest villas of the Italian Renaissance. The villa is located in a region of working farms, mostly olive orchards in this particular setting. The winding road through the town and up to the villa is the beginning segment of a spatial sequence that characterizes this unique late style. As it approaches the Villa Gamberaia, the narrow road opens up to the right just before the tunnel straight-ahead

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia Plan of Gamberaia The plan of the Villa Gamberaia is logically and clearly ordered. Within its simple structure is a diverse collection of garden spaces of both architectural and horticultural merit. The garden is essentially laid out on two flat planes, terraced on the side of a hill, supported by tall retaining walls and overlooking the Tuscan landscape of farms, orchards and hilltowns. The long allée runs north-south and is the datum by which the upper and lower terraces, the house and service quarters and the formal parterre garden are connected. An annotated plan drawing can be found at the end of the tutorial. Drawing by Eileen Kemp

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia Arrival The gated entrance drive is a narrow shaft of space that leads directly to the villa residence. The arrival court is a modest space that directs the view toward the interior gardens and to the buildings rather than to the distant view to Fiesole and Florence. The experience at this point is one of controlled movement and enclosed space. 785

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia Progression Passing through the double archway at the entrance court and confronted with a 12 foot high wall about 25 feet ahead, the visitor turns to the right and is treated to an enchanting vista of the garden and the spectacular view beyond. The long allée, at one time in the garden’s history more enclosed along the parterre garden edge, has an open terminus framed by the topiary cypress exedra and the Stone Pine opposite the end of the high wall Passing through the double archway at the entrance court and confronted with a 12 foot high wall about 25 feet ahead, the visitor turns to the right and is treated to an enchanting vista of the garden and the spectacular view beyond. The long allée, at one time in the garden’s history more enclosed along the parterre garden edge, has an open terminus framed by the topiary cypress exedra and the Stone Pine opposite the end of the high wall

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia Focal Interest Another double archway projects from the southwest corner of the house, extending the line of the facade along the allée and into the parterre garden on the south side. This line was once picked up by a series of potted plants, probably brought down from the orangerie and placed on pedestal platforms. The north end of the cypress allée terminates in a stone niche in a fully enclosed space. The road tunnel that we saw just after the entrance drive runs perpendicular to this allée directly below. To the right is a shade garden; to the left is the gate to the olive orchards across the road from the villa garden

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia Walls as Frames The double archway extends the line of the building façade and frames the views on either side of it. The wall that encloses the allée is a retaining wall at the north end, holding back the earth that supports the orangerie garden above. Here at the south end it is freestanding with a small opening and a hint of the more rustic landscape within. The stucco-surfaced wall, topped with sculptural urns, has the faded evidence of painted images of pilasters and niches that brought visual relief from the mass and weight of such a formidable structure

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia Il Giardino Segreto Inside the freestanding wall is the surprisingly intimate landscape of a rustic garden referred to as the “giardino segreto” -- the secret garden. The setting, as a transitional ground between the formal parterre garden and the olive groves on the rolling hillsides of Settignano, harbors a protected atmosphere where notions of both refuge and prospect, basic instinctual human needs, come together. 792

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia The Grotto The Grotto Garden is ingeniously sited between the upper orangerie garden and the lower naturalized rustic garden to the south. The rock walls and multiple levels surround a quiet space set aside for meditation and reflection, very much like a small chapel for moments of prayer 793

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia The Orangerie The orangerie is a structure that housed fruiting citrus trees in terra-cotta pots during the winter months when frost was likely to damage the plants. The orangerie garden at the Villa Gamberaia is located on an upper terrace, accessible from the Grotto Garden stairways and from the winding country road that tunnels under the allée and up the hillside against which the villa rests. The small potted trees are displayed in the orangerie garden. Workmen cart them to the lower parterre garden and placed them in line with the double arch

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia The Terrace On the formal lawn terrace directly in front of the house and facing toward the west, the sculptural balustrade frames the views to the town of Settignano and the more cosmopolitan city of Florence far beyond. The tall hedges that enclose the parterre garden begin at the southern limit of this terrace and completely close off the garden to (and from) the views. The result is a secluded and serene inwardly focused paradise, expressively and uniquely inscribed with reflecting pools and low box hedges and topiary

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia The Exedra The beautifully sculpted cypress and boxwood hedges outline each of the four pools in this quadripartite garden design. The far southern end of the garden is closed off with a cypress hedge, clipped to resemble an architectural wall of arched openings in a semi-circular form. The Stone Pine at the exedra is a modern “accident” that artfully brings a balance to the otherwise rigidly formal layout The beautifully sculpted cypress and boxwood hedges outline each of the four pools in this quadripartite garden design. The far southern end of the garden is closed off with a cypress hedge, clipped to resemble an architectural wall of arched openings in a semi-circular form. The Stone Pine at the exedra is a modern “accident” that artfully brings a balance to the otherwise rigidly formal layout. 798

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia The Amphitheater at the Exedra The exedra holds an amphitheater-like arrangement of stepped hedges surrounding the semi-circular pool. References to garden motifs used throughout classical antiquity include the Canopus at Hadrian’s Villa and the recollection of the luxuriant terrace gardens at the Generalife in Granada. These precedents firmly root this garden in the traditions of the past yet advance the concepts of spatial design and establish a prominent place for itself in Renaissance history

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia The Villa in Time and Space This garden relies not only on its rational structure and the beauty of its crafted objects for its charm. It’s appeal is also in the rich variety of spaces and the intimate connections between the garden, the surrounding hillsides and the active participant. 800a 800b

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia Plan and Key Villa Gamberaia, Settignano (1610) 1. Country road from Settignano 2. Entrance drive 3. Tunnel under the allée 4. The Cypress Allée 5. The Orangerie 6. The Grotto Garden 7. The Lawn Allée 8. The Parterre Garden 9. The Exedra Drawing by Eileen Kemp

The Renaissance in Italy: Villa Gamberaia Resources Jellicoe, Geoffrey and Susan. The Landscape of Man: Shaping the Environment from Prehistory to the Present Day. The Viking Press: New York, Newton, Norman T. Design on the Land: The Development of Landscape Architecture. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, Moore, Charles W., William J. Mitchell, and William Turnbull, Jr. The Poetics of Gardens. The MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988.