"Villa d'Este, Italy" ©2001 Elroy Christenson
Villa d'Este was the estate of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este (1549) whose family had a this house overlooking the plains of Italy. He created this elaborate garden for himself as a spot to entertain his friends. It had several hundred water jets. One of the fountains here even played music through a series of pipes. Many of the fountains have silted or corroided closed over the years but is still a magnificent place to spend a couple of hours. By the 1900's the ownership had transferred to the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Este. This duke is the one whose assassination in 1914 in Sarejevo started World War I. 
