In 16th-century Italy, authors writing encomiums to rural life and praising the villeggiatura (summer retreat to the countryside) often thought of gardens as pertaining to the « seducing features of gaiety and pleasure », as Leon Battista Alberti put it in his De re aedificatoria. They thus stressed the benefits of clean air and the visual virtues of greenery, both considered a way for members of the intellectual elite to avoid melancholy, a disease they were most likely to experience. These authors’ medical-related points are largely derived from De vita triplici (1489), in which Marsilio Ficino argues that visiting gardens can allow one to feed one’s soul through the spirit (spiritus), which serves as an intermediary between the body and the soul. This may happen through exposure to floral scent amongst other factors. Such theories clearly emphasise the central role of the ambiant environment – a concept developed by Hippocrates. However, it remains open to what extent these theories are linked to Philippe Descola’s concept of an « analogical ontological scheme ». In Beyond Nature and Culture (2005), Descola argues that all existing beings are marked by discontinuity in terms of physicality and interiority, despite being connected to one another by means of a network of correspondences. In this context, the following question arises : what type of relationship between humans and non-humans are presupposed in the discourse on the therapeutical role of gardens in the treatment of melancholy ?