When you walk along the pathways in the garden at the Villa d’Este, when you climb the terraces next to spouting fountains and see water coming out of the mouth of a goddess or a satyr, you think you have been transported to a magical land of the gods and goddesses. You think you hear the whispering of voices when you near the ponds. Really it is just spouting water out of a fountain, but it sounds like water spirits. It is a pagan realm far away from the land of cars, boats, trains, and airplanes, far away from computers. I couldn’t even hear my cell phone because of the gurgling and plashing of the fountains that drown out even my thoughts and commanded my attention. It is the ultimate escape from the everyday, lackluster world.