Chapter 12

Italian High Renaissance
Intense study of Greek and Roman design. The development of the garden as a belvedere, from the Italian bel ’ beautiful’ and vedere ’ to view.’

Monumentality developed after the decorative early Renaissance reached its zenith and began to decay. My personal contention, to be repeated later, is that when Architects no longer need to strive to some end – be it aesthetic or structural, they begin to lose their objective, and design deteriorates. In this period, the decline led to a reinvigorated study of the actual architecture of the ancients, the Greeks and the Romans. Garden design developed, and was to become a mainstream direction for several centuries.