From this place we followed the direct road and came to Caprarola, the palace of Cardinal Farnese, and the most famous in all Italy.[106] I have seen nothing in this country to be compared with it. The upper part of the structure is in the form of a terrace built so that the tiled roof is invisible. It is pentagonal in shape, but has all the look of being a square. The interior is a perfect circle with wide corridors running round, arched and painted all over. The mass of building is immense, all the chambers being square and the large rooms very beautiful. Amongst these is one, a marvel, which has in its vaulted roof the celestial world with all its constellations, and on its walls the terrestrial with all the regions accurately displayed, every detail being richly painted on the wall aforesaid. In other places are pictorial representations of the most heroic deeds of Pope Paul III., and of the house of Farnese. The personages represented are so life-like that the portraits of our Constable, of the Queen Mother, or of her children, Charles, Henry, the Duke of Alençon, and the Queen of Navarre, will be recognised at once by any who may see them; and the same may be said with regard to King Francis, Henry II., Pietro Strozzi, and others. At the opposite ends of one of the saloons are portraits of King Henry II. and King Philip. Under King Henry’s portrait--which occupies the place of honour--is written, _Conservatore di Casa Farnese_, and under King Philip, _Per li molti beni da lui ricevuti_: in addition to these, there are many beautiful objects worth seeing, amongst others, a grotto in which an artificial spray of water falling into a basin conveys, both to ear and eye, the notion of natural rain. The villa is situated in a barren mountainous country, and the water for the fountains must needs be brought from Viterbo, eight miles distant.[107] We pursued our way over a level road running through a vast plain of wide pastures, in the midst of which we came upon certain spots where there was no grass, and where springs of clear cold water gushed forth, but this water reeked so strongly of sulphur that it might be smelt a long way off. After riding twenty-three miles we slept that night at Monterossi, and on the morrow, Sunday, twenty-three more brought us to Rome. [Illustration: THE AQUEDUCT OF NERO _From Piranesi’s Views of Rome_ _To face p. 166_, vol. iii. ]