Villa D'Este

Why is Villa D'Este not all over Pinterest?

At a girlfriend's wedding in Sorrento, another guest suggested a day trip from Rome to check out this awesome water garden in Tivoli.  For the gardening/engineering inclined, this place easily trumps the heavily touristed attractions within the city limits.  Normally, I abstain from photos, but this time I couldn't resist.

tl;dr a Cardinal in the running for Papacy decided to drown his loss by decking out his hillside govenor's mansion with some serious hydroponics (1550-72).

I had to walk to the other end of the property to capture this one in its full glory (better pro pictures here).  It is the culmination of 3 terraces and 2 fountain installations.  Having just come from St Peter's in the Vatican the day before, the top fountain (Fontane Dell'Organo) struck me as run of the mill ornate.  However, in its heyday, it was a water-powered organ, thus elevating its status to Epic.

Behind the falls, there is a second terrace you can cross.  There are 3 grottos behind the falls, each with their own fountain.  This made for some rad mid-day A/C, but was a bit too loud to carry on a conversation.  All the same, it was amusing to picture fussy Shakespearean era ladies cruising around the gardens in fashionable, if not entirely functional attire.

I also managed to capture an awesome triple rainbow from one of the two turrets on that second tier (the middle of the Fontane di Nettuno), despite my suboptimal 3 megapixel vintage iPhone camera.

At the bottom level is a series of pools (peschiera) with some heavy duty carp.  These guys are arm-length+.  Inside the Villa, the exhibits were focused on food during Rinascimento.  From what little I could understand of the Italian program, the kitchen of this property could put together a pretty serious spread, so I wonder if they actually fished these guys up and cooked them.  After reading about the chicken's Southeast Asian roots in my "On Food and Cooking" book last night, it was also pretty neat to see medieval sketches of the typical poultry of the region (with a quail-like crest) and something exotic called Indian gallus, which looked suspiciously like our modern chicken.  Despite the well-stocked fish pond, I still managed to get a couple mosquito bites in my reverie.  I guess this is to be expected with so many water features for expectant mosquito mothers to choose from.

This massive ferny trough was also pretty impressive.  Le Cento Fontane (100 fountains).  While I was thinking that if a setup like this didn't get too hot, it might make an excellent tank for trout, MacGyver was noticing that the ones on one end of the causeway seemed to have more water pressure.  Could have been attributable to the gaping 101st "fountain" which we found midway.  Tivoli is a giant hill and Cardinal Ippolito was savvy to realize that this landscape held great hydroponic promise.  Even so, the amount of planning that had to go into getting a works like this into equilibrium without the help of pumps and what not is pretty astonishing.  

We'd been brainstorming ways to feed a more modest (affordable) system with greywater, rain water, and the like.  My concern was that all the lint and debris coming out of the wash would gum up the system, but a banister like this might provide some basic filtration and complete the look of our cement back steps....




If swimming pools could look like this, I would understand why people take the trouble.  Not sure if the sanitary effects of chlorine fully offset the awesomeness of having mossy ferny walls for landscaping.  Perhaps a modern rendering wouldn't turn out quite as awesome because a lot of the sculptures and raised beds were cut out of corral which is a bit of a faux pas to harvest these days.  Judging by its depth, people probably didn't actually swim in Fontana dell'Ovato, but how rad would it be to have a second story semicircular catwalk you could dive off of or lounge in the shady arcade behind the falls on the ground level?

Phone back, big update

My phone got fixed and returned this week. The work order said they "Replaced Component" thanks Samsung... Pretty sure they were supposed to send me a shipping label too but never did so it cost me 60 bucks to ship it. All in all very crappy experience. Plus side is Google had all my contacts etc backed up, once I signed back in it was smooth sailing.

Well in the last couple weeks we have gotten a ton of stuff done, and had some mishaps as well. My focus has been on the office which is quickly becoming the most finished room in the house in terms of how we want things to look when finalized. Nearly all of the old white paint has been removed from the door frames and last weekend I redid the electrical and also moved the internet wire to run into the basement then inside an interior wall instead of being stapled around the door frame. Patched up all of the walls and its almost ready for paint.

I also modded some outlet frames which came out very cool bronze looking. Simply sanded the paint off with some 220 grit sand paper to make it look like reflected water. Definitely looks better than the flat black you can compare here. The white outlets still look kind of silly so I might get some black ones or paint the faces. They are not high traffic plugs so paint might not get too scratched up.

Belle has been hard at work stripping the wallpaper in the bedroom. Also last weekend the last 2 gaping holes in the bedroom got patched, which leaves us only with 3 rooms left from the repipe, the upstairs bath which is half done and waiting for a shower, under the sink in the kitchen, and the bathroom by the pond.

Speaking of the pond, one of our Koi fish got sick and died, and worse in the flurry of trying to save/quarantine it the pond pump line got bumped and the water started being pumped out of the pond. We didn't notice and promptly left for work only to come back to all of our fish in about 2" of water as the entire 30ish gallons had pumped out over the course of the day. Luckily it drained through an old shower vent hole and most of the water ended up in the dirt. I guess having a sloping floor helps in some situations. Outside of the one Koi, none of the other fish were harmed in the debacle as the giant albino catfish dredged a trench in the sand and led them all to safety.

We are once again insured! I took to the roof to nail down the flashing the insurance company complained about. Since our roof is very high up (30' maybe) and our biggest ladder is 6' the only way was to come down from the top. I tied off to the chimney and slid down to the edge. Quickly nailed the flashing and cleaned out the gutters. Was not too worried but it is a long way down, big thanks to whoever did the brickwork on the chimney 100 years ago.

The plants are doing fantastic, even the pepper plant that the tree trimmers landed a pecan branch on top of is rallying.

I added an outlet to the basement when I was doing the wiring for the office.
I replaced a broken outlet next to the microwave, and we no longer need to use an extension cord.
Brother and I knocked out/dug up the old dead palm tree stump and most of it fit into the green trash bin. Going to get the rest in this week's load.
Mom came by and cleaned up the rose garden.
After the rain (roof was fine btw insurance ppl) the yard looked really good, cool green clovers are popping up all over by the orange trees.

Botany 102

Hidden object game!  Can you find the still-potted rosemary?

Rotate 90 degrees, trim deadwood, and voila!  Replacement for trumpet vine and garnish for Kai's food.  (Kai helped dig up trump stump on far right).  

Also planted 2 avocados (Reed and Hass) in the backyard.  While we had our eye on a Lamb-Hass because it yields monstrously sized avocados in its formative years, these were sold out and it turned out we could get 2 whole trees for 1/3 the price of the illusive Lamb Hass.  

MaGyver dropped in to fill MacGyver's truck with green waste for our field trip to the Prima Deshecha landfill (outgoing truck load 4/10) and jump start two raised beds for herbs and veggies out of salvaged boards in the yard.  Approximately $110 project ($8 of which was pure bull sh*t).    

More documentation to follow if/when things start to sprout.  

Veggies Planted:  

• Sweet potatoes:  Grab a sack from Trader Joe's, cut into halves/thirds, bury in bullsh*t/leaves/nitrogen boosted soil, cover in mulch (partial shade is OK).  
• Spinach/Mesclun:  Scatter each seed package over approx 6-9 sq foot expanse and cover lightly with more of the above.  Make sure to water daily while getting its start.  Once established, "haircut" periodically for salads.  
• Bell Peppers:  bought a started plant.  Provide a support stake.  
• Cherry tomatoes:  bought 2 started plants (a yellow pear and a red cherry).  Provide a support stake.  Research the cool heirloom varieties we beeline for at Trader Joe's.  
• Peas:  scratch with screw, etc. if you didn't start them in a wet paper towel.  Dump them in a trench in front of a wire trellis for them to grow up.  Best if trellis is towards the back of the bed on the north end in order to ensure the rest of the plants get sun (or in the middle, in order for plants to grow up both sides).  
• Marigolds:  Evidently, these tell bugs to GTFO.  
• Chives:  See above, but slightly more edible. 

Herb garden, (shadier, less trafficked corner under the orange tree because it needs less TLC).  This one MacGyver used whimsically patterned river stones instead of mulch to increase heat, retain moisture, and dissuade weeds.   

• Rosemary: remnant from apartment container gardens.  Rocks in rosemary sweet potato fries (a la Clover food truck at MIT).  
• Stevia: remnant from apartment containers.  This stuff is super hardy and sweet!  It doesn't make hard apple cider (aka MacGyver Redbull) taste any smoother, but works wonders in "Nohitos"
• Mint: because we decimated our last apartment mint plant in our Tim Ferriss no-sugar-mohito summer (mint, stevia, limes, rum).  
• Basil: remnant from grocery store TBM run (aka Operation Caprese)
• Garlic:  MaGyver gift from previous visit-- it might or might not be elephantine.
• Sage:  good in stews (because I cook so many of those...)
• Oregano:  Italiano?  idk
• Thyme:  I really don't know, except some kid in my 8th grade class used it with a seafood dish in home ec that won our "Iron Chef" before Iron Chef was a glint in a producer's eye final.  
• Parsley:  last one was never used to garnish anything and eventually went to seed... hopefully destroying the unsettling symmetry of The Park's ferngully below.  

Homework:  water veggies every morning for 3 days straight. Potentially locate onion start bulbs.  Find uses for above before the bumper crop final.    

Also learned:  carotene (vitamin A) boost Koi color.  Tried feeding cooked shredded carrot to the ghostly trio. No bites.  After killing the horsetail, it would be nice to slide some plants into their pond sometime soon.  Perhaps after I convince MacGyver to relocate it to the front porch... 

Kai Pond

Speaking of Koi ponds... I came across this inspirational img.  Grooving on the hardwood floor/seating, the unexpected rock ground cover, the framed moss box, the pots standing in the water, and the bar counter potential of the fountain. In short, pretty much all of it except the gauche back lit fountain and the shallow splash tray's limitations on wildlife.

MacGyver built this awesome adaptation earlier this year. This rocks because it is right outside the bedroom and cool night air combined with the sound of water is a really relaxing way to crash. Plus it keeps Kai out of the herb-filled window boxes which she'd root around in for garlic.

1. Acquire pond frame
2. Frame with pine wood [redwood if directly exposed to weather -M.G.] (cut to approximately right length at Home Depot) stained in cherry and sealed.
3. Acquire water pump, ensconce in filter bag, run tubing between plastic pond frame and wooden frame. Cap with a nondescript plastic planter container that will elevate your plant pot and create a fish lair. You may need to cut an access slit down the side and expect it to bow a bit.
4. Repurpose bamboo retaining fence into spigot using drill (expect lots of testing in a partially filled pond). Stain in cherry. Run tubing through. Wrap unsightly joints with stained rope.
5. Fill bottom and sides with sand (hopefully washed). Epic points for runestones.
6. Fill side pockets with ground cover (we started with baby tears, but they dried out too much, so now we use succulents).
7. Fully fill and de-chlorinate when satisfied with water visibility
7. Install plants. Horsetail in water, iris-lily-baby tears combo in the planter, tiny palm and bromeliad in planters off to the side.
8. Add wildlife. 3 koi (diamond scales, one of them butterfly), 1 albino catfish, a dozen golden minnows "mosquito fish", 6 golden snails. Attempted a Pleco as supplemental algae eater, but he died quickly.
9. Maintenance. Feed fish 2x daily (summer). Catfish got supplemental dog treats (Zuke's PB) when the minnows started to, ahem, "thin out." Top off the planters with pond "tea" daily using the watering can. Top off the pond itself weekly using a 5 gallon bucket of de-chlorinated temperature acclimated water. Clean entire thing by pump draining and scrubbing the sides with an algae sponge while the wildlife waits in another bucket (only necessary when parents come to visit).