Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/470

374 all their beauty, and magnificence of architectural form and coloured decoration still addressing the eye, but along with gaping rents, that sadly told that their glory was departed; if repair were possible the vastness of the cost precluded it; and thus in a few years hence, the work of one terrible hour, will have made the owl and the bat, the tenants of this Cistercian palace.

Almost the only part of the edifice that has escaped serious injury, is the grand elliptic staircase leading to the park, at the extreme northern end. This noble work, said to have been constructed from a design by Buonarotti, is built of fine sawed ashlar, in the hard white Apennine limestone, everywhere polished withinside. Its preservation seems to have arisen from its form, the support to the north given by the broad flights of steps within and without, and the careful nature of its workmanship.