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The Roots of Renaissance Gardens

© Kirk Johnson

The gardens of Renaissance Italy are rooted in the gardens of ancient Rome. When we think of Roman civilization, we tend to focus on the cities. While the Roman Empire was characterized by great cities with huge populations, ancient Romans always thought of themselves as a rural people. One of their most endearing characteristics was their love of horticulture. Even people without gardens usually grew plants in pots on their windowsills or balconies.

Rome was believed to have been founded by shepherd Romulus and until the end of their empire, Romans tended to idealize the roughness and simplicity of peasant life; they liked to think of themselves as peasants. While we tend to think of Imperial Romans wallowing in luxury, it is important to remember that most descriptions of their lavish lifestyles come from Roman writers who were comparing the virtues of their ancestors with the vices of Imperial Rome. The ideal Roman was always Cincinnatus, who left his plow when the state needed him and then returned to his fields as soon as the crisis was over. This identification with rural life continued throughout the Imperial period. Imperial Romans may not have imitated Cincinnatus, but they felt that they should.

Until the first century BC the houses of wealthy Romans tended to be quite simple and their villas were little more than nice farmhouses. In the last century of the Republic, villas became quite luxurious and this trend continued under the Empire, but they often functioned as the center of an agricultural estate. More than any other influence, it was Pliny the Younger's (62-133 CE) descriptions of his Tuscan villa which inspired the villas of Renaissance Florence, these were characterized by the integration of the villa and its ornamental gardens with the surrounding vineyards, orchards and fields.

What especially interests me about Pliny's Tuscan villa is his description of what sounds like a parterre formed out of boxwood "the box is cut into a thousand different forms; sometimes into letters, expressing the name of the master, or that of the artificer".

Pliny's description of his Laurentian villa doesn't seem to have as strong an influence on Renaissance gardens. It describes a seaside villa like those discovered near Pompeii and Herculaneum. It does seem a bit strange that coastal cities like Genoa didn't emulate them, but so far as I know, all of Genoa's Renaissance villas were built in the surrounding hills.

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