It must have been this same Prince of Transylvania who in the summer of 1597 sent an ambassador to Florence called Sigismondo Sarmorago with gifts for the Grand Duke Ferdinando I, (who had succeeded his brother Francesco) and his wife Christine of Lorraine. They were at Pratolino, and the ambassador climbed the long hill from Florence followed by a pair of magnificent iron-grey Turkish horses and two very large dogs with collars _alla Turca_ set with precious stones for the Grand Duke, and a wonderful Indian naked spotted dog for the Grand Duchess, whose collar was resplendent with pearls and diamonds. Pratolino, or rather its garden, seems to have astonished all beholders; John Evelyn stopped there on his way to Bologna from Florence in 1645 and notes in his Diary:— “The house is a square of four pavilions, with a fair platform about it, balustred with stone, situate in a large meadow, ascending like an amphitheatre, having at the bottom a huge rock, with water running in a small channel, like a cascade; on the other side are the gardens. The whole place seems consecrated to pleasure and summer retirement. The inside of the Palace may compare with any in Italy for furniture of tapestry, beds, etc., and the gardens are delicious, and full of fountains. In the grove sits Pan feeding his flock, the water making a melodious sound through his pipe; and a Hercules, whose club yields a shower of water, which, falling into a great shell, has a naked woman riding on the backs of dolphins. In another grotto, is Vulcan and his family, the walls richly composed of corals, shells, copper, and marble figures, with the hunting of several beasts moving by the force of water. Here, having been well washed for our curiosity, we went down a large walk, at the sides whereof several slender streams of water gush out of pipes concealed underneath, that interchangeably fall into each other’s channels, making a lofty and perfect arch, so that a man on horseback may ride under it, and not receive one drop of wet. This canopy, or arch of water, I thought one of the most surprising magnificences I had ever seen, and very refreshing in the heat of the summer. At the end of this very long walk, stands a woman in white marble, in posture of a laundress wringing water out of a piece of linen, very naturally formed into a vast laver, the work and invention of M. Angelo Buonarotti. Hence we ascended Mount Parnassus, where the Muses played to us on hydraulic organs. Near this is a great aviary. All these waters came from the rock in the garden, on which is the statue of a giant representing the Apennines, at the foot of which stands this villa.”[59]