ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the systematic arrangement of real and fictive pergolas within the same estate to serve as semantic and aesthetic counterpoints are a striking characteristic of the period. Pictorial decoration and nature elements further enhanced the atmosphere. The semicircular portico was decorated with an illusionistic pergola, and the lunette sunken nymphaeum was adorned with sculptures and a real pergola flanked by aviaries. The Villa Giulia offers a unique spatial experience of immersion in the rustic setting, articulated by a series of pleasant surprises. The representation of plants and especially of the birds in the painted pergola of the Villa Giulia presupposes the presence of a painter skilled in the depiction of nature motifs and animals. The depicted plants and birds were not just scientific species as the modern viewer would imagine, but each of them was coded with various symbolic meanings and cultural connotations, which the contemporary viewer would have understood or tried to decode.
