The gallery, as it is called, on the basement floor of the casino, is
sixty feet in length, by perhaps a third as much in breadth, and is
(after all I have seen at the Colonna Palace and elsewhere) a more
magnificent hall than I imagined to be in existence. It is floored with
rich marble in beautifully arranged compartments, and the walls are
almost entirely eased with marble of various sorts, the prevailing kind
being giallo antico, intermixed with verd antique, and I know not what
else; but the splendor of the giallo antico gives the character to the
room, and the large and deep niches along the walls appear to be lined
with the same material. Without coming to Italy, one can have no idea of
what beauty and magnificence are produced by these fittings up of
polished marble. Marble to an American means nothing but white
limestone.

This hall, moreover, is adorned with pillars of Oriental alabaster, and
wherever is a space vacant of precious and richly colored marble it is
frescoed with arabesque ornaments; and over the whole is a coved and
vaulted ceiling, glowing with picture. There never can be anything
richer than the whole effect. As to the sculpture here it was not very
fine, so far as I can remember, consisting chiefly of busts of the
emperors in porphyry; but they served a good purpose in the upholstery
way. There were also magnificent tables, each composed of one great slab
of porphyry; and also vases of nero antico, and other rarest substance.
It remains to be mentioned that, on this almost summer day, I was quite
chilled in passing through these glorious halls; no fireplace anywhere;
no possibility of comfort; and in the hot season, when their coolness
might be agreeable, it would be death to inhabit them.

Ascending a long winding staircase, we arrived at another suite of rooms,