This forum is slow - you might do better to post on the Landscape Design forum for reading suggestions. And the email feature is spotty at best, so if you're looking only for emailed responses rather than checking back at the forum itself, you might be out of luck.

From what little I know, Italian Renaissance gardens were closely related to villas and palaces and tend to be architectural rather than the choc-a-bloc riots of color we see in most gardens today. Lots of pictures of gardens and information on the internet to get you kick started.

Lavish use of water features - cascades, fountains, pools; restrained use of plant material (type not quantity); box or yew hedges, laurel, cypress, stone pine, ilex, clipped fruit trees. Some grass cut short as walkways, but a larger use of gravel areas. Spare use of blooming perennials. Color might be roses, grapes, vines trained on walls, trellises, pergolas, porticos, grottos. Or decorative pots planted with topiary or annuals; an occasional parterre pattern of bedding plants. Walls, stairways, buildings, statuary, architectural fragments much in use.

The gardens of the rich and famous were often on hillsides to take advantage of vistas; also to maximize the gravitational pull of any naturally occurring source of water.

In the grander schemes, I'm sure kitchen gardens with herbs, vegetables, blooms for interior decoration took care of the household needs. Out in the larger landscape, herbs were probably more for their color, texture, and fragrance. In that climate, most herbs we know today would have been in use, and blended in for their decorative value.

The French were so impressed, they took their cue from the Italians. But the French, dealing with a less rugged landscape, tailored their grand gardens to what they considered more socially sophisticated - intricate patterns, smaller, more fanciful architecture, heavier use of flowers; more grass, less gravel.

As for down in the dirt, we get to see the results, not so much the planning and step by step execution - the Renaissance gardeners slaving away to create these beautiful spaces tended not to write how-to books for future generations.

Duluth is absolutely right. Forget flowers and vegetables. And there is a library-full of books on the Italian Renaissance garden as it appeared in Italy itself and in many other countries. It's a huge topic that has more to do with art and architecture than horticulture. A topic I can almost guarantee you will fall in love with.

You might take a look at "The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome" by David Coffin, for starters.