This shore of the lake is one continued village, and the Milanese nobility have their villas here. The union of culture and the untameable profusion and loveliness of nature is here so close, that the line where they are divided can hardly be discovered. But the finest scenery is that of the Villa Pliniana ; so called from a fountain which ebbs and flows every three hours, described by the younger Pliny, which is in the courtyard. This house, which was once a magnificent palace, and is now half in ruins, we are endeavouring to procure. It is built upon terraces raised from the bottom of the lake, together with its garden, at the foot of a semicircular precipice, overshadowed by profound forests of chestnut. The scene from the colonnade is the most extraordinary, at once, and the most lovely that eye ever beheld. On one side is the mountain, and immediately over you are clusters of cypress-trees, of an astonishing height, which seem to pierce the sky. Above you, from among the clouds, as it were, descends a waterfall of immense size, broken by the woody rocks into a thousand channels to the lake. On the other side is seen the blue extent of the lake and the mountains, speckled with sails and spires. The apartments of the Pliniana are immensely large, but ill furnished and antique. The terraces, which overlook the lake, and conduct under the shade of such immense laurel-trees as deserve the epithet of Pythian, are most delightful. Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley April 20 294. To Thomas Love Peacock Milan, April 20, 1818. https://archive.org/details/lettersofpercyby0000shel/page/594/mode/1up

Colored print from early 19th century. The building of the renaissance Villa Pliniana at the shore of Lake Como. The lake is quiet, a pleasure boat and a few other small vessels are seen in front of the building. Behind the villa, the hills rise with chestnuts and cypress trees, to the left, half hidden behind dark trees in the foreground, a white foam of the cataract falling down the steep slope, just as in Percy Bysshe Shelley's description. from "Picturesque Tour from Geneva to Milan, by way of the Simplon: illustrated with thirty six coloured views ... engraved from designs by J. and J [or rather, G. and G.] Lory ... and accompanied with particulars historical and descriptive by Frederic Schoberl [With a map.]" Author(s): Shoberl, Frederick [person] ; Lory, Gabriel, the Elder [person] ; Lory, Gabriel, the Younger [person] British Library shelfmark: "Digital Store 10195.f.20" Page: 216 (scanned page number - not necessarily the actual page number in the publication) Place of publication: London (England) Date of publication: 1820 https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11005175743/in/photostream/

Romantic Landscapes (32)
#LociAmoeni #Villas #PBShelley #RomanticLandscapes

1818 Shelley stays a short time at the Villa Pliniana at the shore of #LakeComo - the place has the allure of a locus amoenus: fountain, waterfall & special trees. But house & garden mark it as a place of leisure.