Plan of the Garden of Duke Mattei

Between 1581 and 1586 Ciriaco Mattei built the casino and laid out the gardens in a vineyard he had inherited on the Celian. One of the most notable features is the obelisk set in the middle of a circus-shaped space. The Mattei's palazzo in the city stood on the site of the ancient Circus Flaminius, and this circus feature seems to have been meant to commemorate the family's history. At the end of the circus there is a colossal bust of Alexander the Great. The obelisk was given to Mattei by the Roman government, probably in honor of his father Alessandro's service to the city. Throughout the grounds Ciriaco had placed elaborate fountains with both ancient and modern statues, many of which feature elements from the Labors of Hercules, especially the taking of the golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides. References to this particular myth were a popular feature of Renaissance gardens. The heirs of Ciriaco expanded the property in the seventeenth century into the area with radiating paths at the lower left of the plan and added two fountains by the sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini, now lost.