Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

470

CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. XIV.

edifices may enable the reader to form a general
idea of others of the same kind.
The palace of the Durazzo family was erected
by the celebrated Fontana; the length and ele-
vation of its immense front astonish the spectator,
who perhaps can scarce find in his memory a
similar edifice of equal magnitude. Besides the
rustic ground floor, it has two grand stories,
with mezzanini, and over the middle part con-
sisting of eleven windows, an attic. The portal,
of four massive Doric pillars with its entablature,
rises as high as the balcony of the second story.
The mezzanini windows, with the continuation
of the rustic work up to the cornice, break this
magnificent front into too many petty parts, and
not a little diminish the effect of a double line of
two-and-twenty noble windows. The portico,
which is wide and spacious, conducts to a stair-
case, each step of which is formed of a single
block of Carrara marble. A large antichamber
then leads to ten saloons either opening into one
another, or communicating by spacious galleries.
These saloons are all on a grand scale in all
their proportions, adorned with pictures and
busts, and fitted up with prodigious richness
both in decorations and furniture. One of them
surpasses in the splendor of its gildings any thing