The villa architecture of modern Italy, says Mr. Lamb, an able architect,* (* JC Loudon's Encyclopedia of Architecture p. 951.) "is characterized, when on a moderate scale, by scattered irregular masses, great contrasts of light and shade, broken and plain surfaces, and great variety of outline against the sky. The blank wall on which the eye sometimes reposes; the towering campanile, boldly contrasted with the horizontal line of roof only broken by a few straggling chimney-tops: the row of equal sized, closely placed windows, contrasting with the plain space and single window of the projecting balcony; the prominent portico, the continued arcade, the terraces, and the variously formed and disposed out-buildings, all combine to form that picturesque whole, which distinguishes the modern Italian villa from every other."** (** In this country, owing to the greater number of fires, the effect would be unproved by an additional number of chimney-tops.)
[Lamb, EB ( Edward Buckton) was the author of Etchings of Gothic Ornament and Ancient Domestic Architecture, Principally Selected From Original Drawings In The Collection of The Late Sir William Burrell, Bart,. With Some Brief Descriptions On The Application Of Ancient Architecture To The Pictorial Composition of Modern Edifices]
