maggie.in.orvieto

19 April 2010

sunset.in.my.medieval.town

I often find myself taking a walk along my favorite road (Via Ripa Medici) in Orvieto just in time for sunset...

After visiting Villa Farnese, we headed off to Villa Lante, another Mannerist garden getaway. Unlike Villa Farnese, which seemed to reserve its sense of humor for just its secret garden, Villa Lante was an explosion of personality and ridiculousness.

Villa Lante is built into the side of a hill, stretching up its slope and growing more and more wild and organic toward its peak. Although modern tourists enter at the base of the hill, the garden was originally designed so you would enter at the top and descend through the different levels of increasing refinement. Just like Villa Farnese's secret garden, Villa Lante used water as a symbol of man's control over nature. Notice that by the time the water reaches the bottom of the hill, it's controlled in a grand, symmetrical fountain surrounded by geometric, perfectly controlled hedges--the ultimate Mannerist statement of human intellect.

From this point on, we'll start from the upper gardens and meander down the hill, like we were supposed to...

The infamous water chain at Villa Lante leads you down the visual axis of the garden (which eventually ends at the geometric bottom fountain)

My favorite gag of the Villa was its play on its owner's name. The garden was commissioned in 1566 by a Cardinal Gambara, whose last name in Italian means "shrimp"...take a look at the mouth of the water chain fountain and you'll see one of the many prawn shrimp featured all over the villa.

Stepping down onto the next level of the garden, you reach the llloooonnnggg outdoor dining table, complete with the ice-cold water channel down the middle--to keep your wine bottles cold in the summer heat, of course...

A quick walk down to the next level takes you to the final fountain--a small garden overall, but packed with personality. In fact, there are several hidden water features that were designed so that unsuspecting guests (and tourists if the groundskeepers are bored...) would get sprayed as they wandered around.

07 April 2010

villa.farnese.at.caprorola

Whoa! Long time, no blog.

Spring has sprung here in Orvieto, and with such beautiful weather (excluding our rainy Easter), there's countless outdoor fun to distract me!

So between 70 degree weather, a project deadline, and a visit from my mom, Italian life has suddenly been "busy"!

For those of you waiting at the edge of your seats, your wait is over!

This past Friday, the class made a field trip to both Villa Farnese at Caprarola and Villa Lante--both Mannerist villas (party houses!) built for the country excursions of Cardinals...

The Mannerist Style was the answer to the formality of revived classical rules of the late Renaissance...Mannerist buildings are recognizable for their "sense of humor", their un-PC mockery of tradition and playful jokes. This brief design period of grotesque surprises eventually faded out into the Baroque in Italy. Knowing this sure helps in understanding the wackiness of these two villas...

We started off our trip at Villa Farnese, the more reserved of our two stops.

We took the infamous spiral stairs down to the usually unvisited basement (our client's cousin was the architect on the restoration, so we had an in!) Apparently these were the stairs from Godfather III...I'm not much of a Godfather fan, so I'll take Don's word for it.

Then upstairs into the round exterior hallway that connects all the rooms of the pentagon-shaped villa...

I loved the grotesque paintings...dogs!

Not too many photos of the interior of the villa, as its gardens are its star in my opinion! After a quick tour of the villa's apartments, we headed outside and started off toward its "secret garden"...this party garden was built off a long path leading away from the formal villa. It was a surprisingly far walk from the main building, and really was a "secret" garden--hidden in the forest-like trees, you hardly notice it until you're right there. Walk with me:

Take a look back at Villa Farnese...

Here's where the Mannerism really begins!! The stripe running up the middle of the steps is the famous chain fountain of the villa...swirling stone fish create a running channel of water.

Water was a big focal point of the Mannerist villas we visited...as a symbol of man's power to control nature, water was featured everywhere--running down the sloping, hill-side gardens. Water started as wild, was harnessed, and eventually led you downward to the geometric gardens--the ultimate signs of man's mastery over nature. I loved this chain fountain--one weird fish after another down the banister of the stairs.

Look really closely at the right corner of the shot and you'll see some of the Mannerist face statues featured all over the back of this garden...this one with a mocking expression as it sticks its tongue out at you...