Voyages to the House of Diversion
Seventeenth-Century Water Gardens and the Birth of Modern Science


June 2014 - Two Weeks in Tuscany


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But I want to hear more about weeding       or go to the Plumbing Gallery

Anyone who wants to get to grips with what happens in English water gardens of the 17th. century needs to become intimately acquainted with Italian water gardens from the 16th. century. The accepted narrative is that all of the best ideas for such garden features originated with engineers of  the Italian Renaissance who were in turn drawing inspiration from classical antecedents. More to the point, as the number of surviving water gardens from the period in England is vanishingly small to see such features in anything like working order one has to travel, preferably to Italy. In fact the chief gardens of interest occur into clusters: one, obviously, around Rome and the other in the hills to the north of Lucca and Florence (Firenze). So, as it was the closest, marginally, we opted to undertake a trip in the first instance to Tuscany. This diary style account of our adventures will be supplemented by individual articles about each garden over the next few months.


For various reasons, not least the need to carry a certain amount of equipment
, we decided to drive down in three easy stages: to Portsmouth for an overnight crossing with Brittany Ferries; Caen to Cluny via Honfleur for breakfast by the harbour, it's traditional; Cluny to Pescia via the Mont Blanc Tunnel. This was our first visit to Cluny although we knew it  by repute and on account of our very good friends David and Kate Walsh from Rochester University (NY) having worked there for many seasons. It is such a remarkable place that it deserves a whole section all to its self.


Our base of operations was the Appartamento Laghetto at the Azienda Agricola Marzalla just above the small town of Pescia.




Tuscany
The Appartamento Laghetto, entered by a jasmine lined bridge.



Our first port of call on Monday was the remarkable walled town of Lucca with its intact circuit of 16th. and 17th. century ramparts and bastions. Here we had booked a visit to the Palazzo Pfanner with its small but beautifully formed garden. We were greeted by the amiable Dario Pfanner, formerly of All Souls, Oxford. His family were from Bavaria and purchased the palazzo in the middle of the 19th. century and set it up as a brewery with attached beer garden. This closed in 1929 but Dario told us he now had plans to reopen it as an additional visitor attraction, remember you read it here first. The gardens were indeed very pleasant with some fine 18th. century statuary but the lovely and much photographed central fountain which I had assumed was an integral part of the 17th. century garden was actually added in the early 19th. century following the demolition of a two storey casino. So an attractive but not hugely relevant start to our expedition.


June      June        June
Baluardo S. Donato viewed from Baluardo S. Croce, looking south west.                    The central fountain, Palazzo Pfanner, view looking north.                                                  The former brewery, sorry, just had to put it in.


Our second outing was an exploratory trip to Florence (Firenze) on the train, a small tip to anyone contemplating an Italian rail journey: buy your ticket then validate it on the platform side machine then check you've validated it and if in doubt validate it again. We were very lucky on at least one of our trips... I shall say no more less we are pursued by the Italian rail authorities. We were trying to track down the Orti Oricellari, a garden which in the early 16th. century was a meeting place for the intellectuals of the time, an interesting possible parallel with the Oxford gardens. We had an address to call at but whatever it was it had been transformed into the Lycée Victor Hugo, école Francaise de Florence. Understandably they were a little reluctant to just let us in so we left our credentials and made an appointment to return the following day. This we did and were graciously received by the Preside, M. Jean Pierre Pinto. He took us down past washrooms and the laundry and unlocked the door to the astonishingly well preserved grotto of Polyphemus. After allowing us time to photograph and plan it we emerged into the sunshine to explore the grounds. Unfortunately the gigante was shrouded in scaffolding and being worked on by a friendly local restorer. He let us in on the ground floor to photograph work in progress. We haunted the nearby streets looking for other signs of the gardens, long since divided up between multiple properties but with no luck, still it was a great privilege to be allowed to see what we had.


June     June       June
The view from the headmaster's window, a gift wrapped giant.                              Down in the grotto, Verna at work.                                      Up close and personal, just a foot but what a foot!



Whilst in Florence we also made a visit to the Museum of the History of Science, now renamed the Museo Galileo and tucked out of site round the back of the Uffizi. Apart from such wonders as Galileo's first telescope there was little to detain us. I was hoping for something on hydraulic engineering or science and garden design but no. One interesting little artefact was an anamorph of the kind described by Plot as being in Sir Anthony's possession. Just up the road is the Museo nazionale del Bargello  and we called in here to examine some  examples of garden sculpture which had been bought in from the cold better to preserve them. Most engaging were a series of bronze birds by Giambologna rescued from the Villa Medicea di Castello.


June     .June
Anamorph in the Museo Galileo.                                                                     Two of Giambologna's owls in the Bargello



By the way, here's a small tip, don't try and enter the Bargello with an archaeology trowel, all bags are scanned by X-ray machine and they take it amiss if you try and smuggle in, however unwittingly, sharp objects. Of course Florence being the kind of city it is there's something of interest on every corner, quite literally, and the kind of technology employed in their gardens was also used to bring water to thirsty Florentines or today... tourists.


June       June
Florentine fountains: on the corner of Via de Castellani and Borgo de Greci; on the corner of Via Maggio and Via della Sprone.




Thursday June 5th. was the day of four villas, it could have been five but more of that later. In the hills to the north of Lucca are a whole series of country villas many built in the 15th. and 16th. centuries by rich and powerful Lucchesian families often on the site of medieval estates or farmsteads. There is a similar situation north of Florence. We emailed five villas with garden features of particular significance but nothing terribly helpful came back so we had to play the tourist and turn up, pay our entry fee and do what we could. As it happened there were so few people around  that we pretty well had the gardens to ourselves and were able to plan a couple of grottoes and use our photo scales freely.



June
Villa Torrigiani from the south, Tuscan rain clouds threaten.


First on our list was the Villa Torrigiani Di Camigliano which retains from the 17th. century the Nymphaeum of the Winds, a superb stairway which houses a hidden grotto and the two are separated by the Garden of Flora above which is a reservoir that provided the supplies for waterworks of such subtlety that they inspired the poet Filandro Cretense to wax lyrical in praise of the engineering. Interestingly the author Mariachiara Pozzana whose book 'Gardens of Florence and Tuscany: A Complete Guide' was our expedition Bible, missed the under stair marvels, perhaps they were not open when she visited or maybe it was the bats. A few minutes into the survey and I became aware of the odd flitting about and looked up to see a small colony of bats hanging just above my head. Once you got used to them it was really quite amazing to watch the way the dodged about. I guess if we had been in England we just wouldn't have been allowed access.



June     June
Entry to the Nymphaeum of the winds looking south and a close up of the pipework and bronze wire mesh inside the decaying head of a hydra.




June     June
The stair at the north end of the Garden of Flora, amongst the secrets it conceals... bats.




June     June     June
The grotto behind the stairs: the narrow passageway, the remains of a sphinx and some marvelously intricate pipework, just the kind of thing I needed to see.





June     June     June
The reservoir north of the steps.                Cerebus, Hades' three headed dog.          Holding a length of Tuscan terracotta drain pipe... exciting eh?


The people at our next intended port of call, the Villa Mansi had been kind enough to at least email us their opening hours and charges but when we got there it all looked very closed and in Italy when something looks closed it really looks closed. We motored up and down the road and saw great iron gates chained and padlocked and that was about it so it was on to garden number three the Villa Reale, Marlia


June
The gatehouses, inquire at the one on the right.


Admission here was an interesting experience. The road bends round through the forecourt to the villa which is flanked by a pair of gatekeeper's houses which still perform that function so you ring on the door bell and wait, the custodian will probably have spotted your arrival and will be peering out from behind her curtains, then you are ushered in the front room, sold your tickets and sent out again to wait while a hidden button is pressed somewhere and the main gates silently swing open. You're having fun and you haven't even got in yet.

There are several key elements to the garden but we were particularly interested in the Grotto of Pan, the Fishpond and Nymphaeum and the Theatre of Water. The place was deserted as we strolled through some very English looking parkland towards the16th. century Grotto of Pan (Pozzana refers to it as the Nymphaeum). This is fronted by a loggia surmounted by a summer house approached by steps on the west side. The grotto itself is octagonal with a wonderful natural lighting effect thanks to an oculus in the dome.


June     June     June
The Grotto of Pan from the west.                                                   Lighting up a dolphin's head.                                                        Inside the grotto.




June     June
Who would have thought entering a garden could be so dangerous?  Two river gods replenish the fishpond, behind them Leda is engaged with a swan.





June
The Water Theatre ( Teatro d'Acqua) view from the south.



June     June     June
The Water Theatre: the cascade, one of several fountains and the source of it all, an aqueduct hidden in the woods behind the great facade.



Three down, more or less, two to go after lunch. next up was the Villa Grabau, a comparatively small establishment but I was keen to see  a rather grotesque sculpture in the garden and kind of basilisk riding on top of a turtle. Water didn't feature enormously in the garden but there were some characterful satyr's masks spouting.


june
The turtle-riding basilisk thing.


June     June     June
The terrace behind the villa looking north with four superb satyr masks attributed to Pietro Tacca and a fountain beyond.



Finally and with more features per square metre than any other of the day's visits was the Villa Buonvisi Oliva. Once again there was a bell to ring and after a time the gardener appears escorted by a huge shaggy Alsatian like dog to let us in. We are then taken down to the magnificent double height 'Loggia del Civitali' on the north side of the villa where tickets and pamphlets are produced from a carrier bag. The first exciting feature which I imagine most people would ignore was tucked away in the north east corner of the garden. This was a large and alarming deep cistern that clearly supplied the assorted water works and other facilities scattered round the place. The first of these to the north of the house was yet another grotto, you can see by now we are becoming a little blasé about it all, usual stuff fountains plus nymphs. Especially intriguing were the stables with an extensive selection of Renaissance and later period bronze taps. Running in a line southward from the reservoir were a couple of wall mounted fountains the first being the rather alarming Fountain of the Siren with evil looking leering faces.  More appealing was the next element in the chain, the Fountain of Abundance. The water supply clearly takes a bend to the west here feeding a small fountain in the middle of the lawn before disgorging into the cascade that fills the Pool of the Cupids.


 June      June
The entrance gates,'Per visite Suonare il campanella'.                                               The grand loggia by Matteo Civitali, get your tickets here.



June     June
The cistern, view looking north west.                                                            Another nymphaeum.




June
In the stable yard this charming little mermaid tap.




June     June
The Fountain of the Siren and the Fountain of Abundance, both viewed from the west.



June     June
The cascade and the Vasca degli Amorini with an amorino riding a cavalluccio marino, view from the west.



It was a real pleasure pottering round the peaceful countryside north east of Lucca with scarcely another visitor in sight, a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of Florence. However the next day, Friday June 6th. it was back to battling the crowds in Pisa. We'll spare you the obligatory photograph of pretending to hold up the leaning tower and mention instead the Orto Botanico di Pisa claimed to be the world's oldest. Founded in 1544 they were relocated to their current spot in 1591 and are right in the centre of the city. The old part is laid out in a systematic fashion with rectangular beds and small circular pools regularly spaced. The facade of the botany gallery was encrusted in piera spunga and shells in 1752. Sad to say the gardens are not especially well maintained but there is lots of demolition and building work underway, pity they couldn't spend more on the gardeners.


June     June
The alleyway leading down to the gallery.                                                         Beds, pool and gallery from the north west.


June
The Garden of the Myrtles, designed originally to display medicinal herbs, now displaying...  flowerpots.



Sunday June 8th. was a day of rest which was just as well as the temperatures suddenly soared into the high 30s! On Monday we were schedules to turn up at Pratolino to visit the famous gardens there so we were a little concerned about high temperatures, baking sun and so on. As it happened we should have been more concerned about the Satnav which took us up some lonely and very stony single track farm drives and abandoned us! Eventually we arrived at the Parc Demidorff at Pratolino and were greeted by Matteo Vannelli and Paolo Porri who were to be our guides around the wonders of what had been the greatest garden of the Italian Renaissance, at least in terms of wonders and marvels. They were a little disconcerted to see us dressed a touch on the formal side as they explained there was a lot of underground tunneling and scaffold climbing to be done but always up for a challenge we pulled out our hi-viz jackets and  hard hats and soldiered on. We began our guided tour at the pond of the Maschera (mask) fronted by a rather unlovely figure of... well I'm not sure at the moment. Later on we were taken underground to explore the tunnels that lead to the channel that supplied the whole thing with water.



The Maschera Pond view from south




   June       June    
Exploring the channel that lead water down to the Mask .                                                               Detail of the former water course.

  

The next attraction was a fountain/grotto complex which had originally been part of a terrace just below the 16th. century villa - now demolished. This was known as the Mugnone Grotto after the titulatory 'deity' of the small stream which ran south from the park towards the River Arno. As well as being able to measure and survey the outside of this feature we were also lead behind the facade to explore the inner workings of the wonders here which had included Pan up to something with the nymph Syringa and a peasant/dragon interface.


June
The Mugnone Fountain from the south




June     June    June
An entry to the underworld.                                                                         Traps, taps and pipes.                                              Another entry: climb down the jagged steps



On the terrace above the fountain a small excavation had been carried out on the site of the villa revealing more evidence for water management and another entry to the subterranean system of pipes and conduits.


June       June
The excavated area from the east.                                                                   A piece of threaded lead pipework.



June     June
Verna begins the descent... into another conduit.



We had started at on of the lower points in the water supply system and were  now climbing the hill to north of the original villa site so the next stop on our tour was the magnificent Giant of the Apennines. This massive figure was designed by Giambologna around 1580. The whole thing was under restoration and again shrouded in scaffolding. This proved to be a bonus for us as our hosts granted us access to the site so we were literally able to climb all over him and explore his insides too.


June     June
The giant cunningly depicted on the scaffolding that surrounds him.                                           Underneath the giant, the roof of the lower grotto.




June     June
A small fragment of the decoration of the lower grotto.                                                          Emerging into the sunshine once again.




June     June
Up we go, climbing the scaffolding around the giant.     The dragon on the giant's back used to breathe fire, we saw how it was done.




June     June
The face of the giant.  The extraordinary armature inside the giant's head.





June
A giant's eye view, looking out across the Park Demidoff.


After that it was all up hill as we traced the line of various underground water courses by lifting and peering into a range of manhole covers. We finished off close to the Fountain of Jove before pottering off to enjoy an excellent lunch with our hosts at a venerable hostelry Zocchi's Ristorante. Arguably this day alone made the entire expedition worthwhile and we have to express our heartfelt thanks not only to Matteo and Paulo but also to Dr. Giliberti, Professor Zangheri and Andrew Hornung form Enstone who facilitated our visit.


  June     June     June
A column of spungi.                                              Another entry to the water system, this one we didn't go down.                    The Fountain of Jove from the south.



June
Of course Pratolino is a shadow of its former self so you have to travel to see the reassembled elements of the Fontana dell'Ammannati in the Bargello.



Our explorations at Pratolino were little troubled by the heat, partly because of the shaded woodland that occupied much of the park and partly because we spent much of our time underground. The unseasonable Florentine heatwave continued for the rest of the week and certainly made our work on Tuesday June 10th. at the Villa Gamberaia challenging at times. Having obtained permission in advance to carry out survey work on the gardens we were slightly stunned to be charged 15 euros each for the privilege. It really is a very beautiful garden, albeit on a small scale with stunning views of Florence but still 15 euros... It was also unfortunate that Nicola who was scheduled to show us around had had a mechanical  breakdown of some kind and was unable to join us. Did I mention the drive up to the villa? Several kilometres of narrow, I mean really narrow, up hill lanes flanked by high, hard unforgiving walls with right angle bends that needed a certain amount of shunting to get around and then to be charged 15 euros, sorry, I'm going on a bit here. ( Update: Thanks to the benefactor who was so moved/annoyed by my banging on about the entry fee that he refunded me the 15 euros, now Peter can I have a word about my council tax?) Anyway there were two centres of interest for us, the nymphaeum at the north end of the garden and grotto on the short east-west axis of the garden which we believed still housed some of the original controls for the giochi d'acqua. The main work on the garden was done following its acquisition by Zanobi di Andrea Lapi in 1610.



June     June
The Nymphaeum viewed from the bowling green to the south.                               Detail with eroded lion and exposed brick and pipe work.


June     June
The Gabinetto di Roccaglia looking east and from the same location back towards the villa.




June     June     June
The gabinetto: niche with statue.                     Site of the former controls now evidently modernised.             Stairs on the north side looking east.




June
Water still features in the modern additions to the garden, surely a pool with one of the best outlooks in the world? Yes that is Florence, that's a 15 euro view.



Having spent a lot of time hanging about outside villas it struck us as a good idea to look inside one and for that purpose we chose the home of Lorenzo the Magnificent at Poggio a Caiano, a building feted by architectural historians as one of the first purpose built country houses. it was built under the direction of Giuliano da Sangallo starting in 1485. The salone was described by Vasari as the most beautiful room in the world and what's more entry was free! Unfortunately the gardens were remodeled in the English style in the early nineteenth century so little of the original layout remains.



June     June
The villa from the south and 'the most beautiful room in the world'.


Thursday June 12th. had us taking on two of the garden greats amongst the Florentine selection. the first of these was the early Medicean garden at Castello a few kilometres north west of the city centre. Developed from 1537 onwards by Cosimo I it became something of a sculptural showcase. We had tried without success to obtain authorisation from the directorate to see behind the scenes here but luckily bumped into the helpful and charming Francesca who introduced us to Paolo, the head gardener who took some time out from his busy schedule to explain some of the water features. A massive conservation project was underway on the ground above the famous Grotto of the Animals where excavations have revealed fascinating details of how water was supplied to such a grotto. Work is not currently underway so we couldn't get on to the site but there was plenty to see from the surrounding scaffolding and we do have contact details for the project architect.



June      June
The formal gardens with Ammannati's Hercules Strangling Antaeus: view from south, view from terrace to north.



JuneJuneJune
The  utterly marvelous Grotto of the Animals with work by Tribolo, Vasari, Bachiacca, Ammannati and Giambologna!



June
The ceiling of the grotto.




June     June
The Fountain of the Apennine by Ammannati from the south east.                              Scaffolding above the roof of the Grotto of the Animals.



June     June
Details of plumbing arrangements to supply water to the Grotto of the Animals, views across excavated area looking west.



Not quite last on the list but deferred to our last day in Florence were the massive and majestic Boboli Gardens attached to the Pitti Palace on the south bank of the Arno. Again we had been unable to raise of contact with the staff here so went in as paying customers. The garden here was developed in two main campaigns: that part immediately behind the huge blocky palace belongs to the middle part of the 16th. century while the huge extension to the west belongs to the 1630s.


June

The amphitheatre is the first striking feature that appears as you emerge up from the ramp from the palace courtyard, a feature which links in with a long tradition of theatrical spaces in gardens that we examined during the work on Farnborough. As the main grotto was only opened for a few minutes on the hour we took a turn to the left and headed down to Buontalenti's Great Grotto taking in the rather grotesque statue of the dwarf Morgante riding on a turtle, what is it with turtles?


June    
Known locally as Bacchus this is in fact a likeness of the favourite dwarf of Cosimo I, view from south west, the Grand Grotto is in the background..


The Grand Grotto is a truly beautiful piece of work adapted from a plant nursery designed by Vasari and modified in the 1580s by Buontalenti. It features a bagpiper so I was sold on it right away but it's worth pointing out that it also contains casts of Michelangelo's Prisoners (now in rather poorly finished white concrete), Vincenzo de Rossi's Theseus and Helen of  1587 and  Giambolgna's Venus of 1573 as well as a host of other decorative effects of varying degrees of allegorical and symbolic significance. I bought a copy of Costanza Riva's La Grotta Grande de Boboli: Laboratoriodi Meraviglie, to get to grips with all this, however, as it is in Italian this could take some time.


June
Waiting for opening time at the grand grotto, view from the south west.


June          June
Theseus, Helen and Venus.




June
The big picture, the Grand Grotto viewed from the entrance.




June           June    
An open stone lined channel approaching the Grand Grotto from the south east  then carried into it on a small aqueduct, view from the south west.




Poking about in the vicinity lead us to contemplate a possible source of the copious amounts of water that must have once flowed through the grotto and following that up stream lead us to a smaller earlier grotto termed  Grotticina di Madama. This was completed in in 1555 by Davide Fortini and the suggestion in Medri and Galletti's brief guide to the garden is that this was the precursor to all later Tuscan constructions of this type.

June
The interior of the Grotto of Madam, I'm not sure of the translation here but it certainly bears a strong resemblance to the grotto at Castelli, I shall have to get the chronology of all this sorted out.




By now there was more than a hint of thunder rumbling about and by the time we had climbed the slope above the amphitheatre to view Soldo Lorenzi's bronze Neptune of 1568 perched, along with ducks and heron, in the Falcone Basin it was raining hard. We initially look shelter against some bushes but such was the strength of the downpour that we eventually had to take cover in the public toilets along with other similarly half drowned visitors, it all turned quite convivial in the end and after about half an hour the rain stopped.


June     June
Neptune and his ducks are about to get a lot wetter, view from west.                             Boboli in the rain, the view from the toilets, we got to know this well.



Once the rain stopped we resumed our explorations and a few turns and a twisty path or two took us to the Ragnaia della Pace an area originally set aside for netting birds. In order to attract their feathered friends a series of drinking troughs were provided today known as the Fountain of the Mostaccini presumably a comment of the grotesque faces which adorn the upper section of this feature.




June     June
The Fountain of the Mostaccini: upper section looking north east, lower section looking west.




The final major feature on our itinerary was the famous Island Pool (Vasca dell'Isola). As it happened pools plus islands had not been major feature of the gardens we had studied up to this point but given our interest in Hanwell's House of Diversion we were certainly on the look out for them. This was a huge example and was approached via a causeway flanked by columns with 18th. century capricorns another Medici family symbol. At the centre was Giambologna's Ocean Fountain of 1576 relocated here from the Amphitheatre in 1636. Unfortunately the gates were locked and we could only observe the island from a distance. Oddly the well known semi-submerged statue of Perseus on horseback seemed to have disappeared, presumably removed for restoration. I'm not sure we learned anything of great value here except to note that the  surface of the island is only standing a short distance above the level of the water




June     June
The approach to the Isola from the north east.                                                  General view from the west, note no Perseus.




June     June
On the way out we caught one more grotto, this one known as the Grotto of Moses which features some rather disturbing swimming cherubs... or are they drowning?




June
Drying out on the steps of the Costume Museum, the hat will never be the same again.




Our final Tuscan garden was nailed on the last Friday, June 13th. and proved in many ways to be the most rewarding. this was the garden of the Villa Garzoni in the village of Collodi, just round the corner from where we were staying. We had obtained permission in advance to undertake survey work and photography and so were a little disconcerted at having to ring the bell fairly frequently over a period of around quarter of an hour before one of the gardeners appeared to let us in. the gardens were laid out by Romano Garzoni in the first half of the 17th. century however most of the visible remains date from further improvements during the following century. The garden has a little of everything and makes full use of the copious supplies of water from the hills to the north and the 45 metre drop on the main south west facing slope.




June
The view, the grand staircase and the great water chain, view from south west.




I was particularly keen to see the way the terracing and steps were treated as a possible parallel for what we are hoping to find on the great east terrace at Hanwell. In the middle of the second terrace was the  rather fine Grotto of Neptune. It was intriguing to see the variety of decorative materials used in this instance including large chunks of a greenish glass. Beyond the third terrace with its flanking statues of a male and female satyr and a lively troop of terracotta monkeys is the water chain. This is prefigured by a small grotto with some rather ungainly birds presiding over it. the chain is in three parts and central decorative strip flanked by two parallel sets of giant stairs down which the water flows. A growth of papyrus rather conceals one of the central features which is a huge mask or face heavily stretched on anamorphic principles so as to appear normally proportioned if seen from the parterres below. Surmounting all this is a final pool into which an enormous statue of Fame discharges water.



June     June
The second terrace with the entry to the Grotto of Neptune with the Villa Garzoni in the background, looking north and inside the grotto.



June     June
Verna went to huge lengths to get just the right angle on the close ups and here's an example, note the potential to squirt water from the nostrils.




Grotto
Our completed plan.




June     June
The start of the water chain looking north east with details of the decoration including coloured glass.




June
I'm not sure exactly what kinds of birds these are supposed to be.... suggestions?




June     June
the anamorphic giant: his mouth with brick like teeth covered in quartz and his big bulgy eyes, both views from the south east.




June
Fame spouting forth, view from south east, the building to the right is a former bath house.




June     June
On into the rest of the park, a dragon capped gate pier and the beautiful Ponte sul Rio which gives a view down into an early example of a labyrinth.




June
The end of the visit, looking down to the south west on to the parterres at the foot of the terracing.


The gardens at the Villa Garzoni would perhaps more than any other of the sites we visited repay additional study as there seems a good chance that the early arrangements for delivering and managing the water supply remain substantially intact, however, it was our last day so we saw what we could then packed up.


It is a fact not without irony that to visit some of the most attractive places in Italy you have to travel through some of the most unattractive... and busiest. The Arno valley between Florence and Lucca has to be one of the most heavily developed regions in the country. Just as earlier populations were attracted by the area's resources today the potent combination of tourism and market gardening has created an odd kind of urban sprawl taking in the towns of Prato and Pistoia. This transformation of the surrounding countryside makes it quite difficult in some cases to read the gardens as they would have stood in their original settings. Indeed it is with a feeling of some gratitude and relief that we were able to insist that 'no we're really only here for the plumbing'. The thought of having to get to grips with all that symbolism of hidden meanings and esoteric knowledge just gives me a headache. What we have come away with is an extraordinary archive of detailed photographs of the fine details of how these extraordinary places were put together. Our confident expectation is that knowing at least something about the nuts and bolts of Renaissance plumbing will help us with kind of fragmentary evidence we are likely to be unearthing at Enstone and Hanwell.

And finally... a very special thank you to Edwina, Nigel and Verna, who shared driving, photographing, surveying, shopping, cooking and other duties to make the expedition such a success.


June
View across the Arno valley towards Florence, looking south west from the Villa Gamberaia.



It took a few days to get over the Tuscany trip and put the house and garden in order but there was lots top do on site as well, mainly clearing the weeds after three or four weeks of neglect. As it happened we had two evening social events and tours at Hanwell, one for the friends of the Oxford Botanic Gardens and the other for our good friends from the Enstone Historical Society. Many many thanks therefore to Peter and Mike who helped with weeding. Initially we decided to prepare the island for further investigations later this summer and that involved both removing vegetation and bailing out several months worth of semi-stagnant water from Sir Anthony's Bath then we cleared and swept the two areas down around the second sluice and cut back some vigorous brambles from around the Cascade. Unfortunately I forgot to take any before and after photos but see below.



June
The Enstone Historical Society enjoy their picnic after touring the grounds.


The situation at Enstone was even more dire when we eventually arrived there and again special thanks to Robin for helping tame the wilderness. The grassy lawns of early spring have now grown up to almost head height. I used the Jimny to blaze a trail, or a least somewhere to walk, down to the the site of the lower excavation and it was an extraordinary experience, I really couldn't see where I was going. On the terrace dig a remarkable carpet of small pink flowered Convolvulus arvensis (field bindweed) had established itself, needless to say it was mercilessly extinguished.

June            June
The fruit of Robin's labours.




June     June
My bit, before and after.




Back at Hanwell our thoughts began to turn towards preparing for the big dig in August and in particular the huge section through the East Terrace. The ground had to be cleared  and the trench laid out which meant advancing into the undergrowth with machete in hand (Thanks to Christopher for the judicious application of a little weed killer which went some way to opening things up for us). before putting sweating hordes to work on the trench we needed to have some sort of idea what to expect so we began a couple of test areas in order to get a sneak preview



June
Peter takes on the Butterbur (Petasides hybridus).




    June     June

Work begins on two test areas on the East Terrace: looking downhill to the east and uphill to the west.... nothing yet.