carrara marble: a nomination for ‘global heritage stone...

Carrara Marble: a nomination for ‘Global Heritage

Stone Resource’ from Italy

P. PRIMAVORI

Dimension Stone International Consultant; Teacher in the Master ‘Architecture and

Construction: contemporary design with natural stone’, Department of Architecture &

Urban Studies, Politecnico of Milan, Italy (e-mail: [email protected])

Abstract: Carrara Marble, from Italy, probably one of the most famous dimension stones in thecollective memory and in ordinary people, is here nominated as a suitable ‘Global HeritageStone Resource’.

Quarried since pre-Roman times, the Carrara marble is the testimonial of an area/industry thatwas able – for a variety of reasons not easily repeatable in future stone history – from the dawn of thestone sector, to trigger a flywheel effect on a global scale. Suitable for any environment and culturalcontext, this versatile marble has been appreciated in almost any field of application – from buildingto architecture, from fine arts to urban landscape, from funerary art to modern 3D design – probablyreaching its highest point in the eternal works of famous sculpturers, artists and architects such asMichelangelo, Donatello, Jacopo Della Quercia, Canova, Bernini, and many others. It is currentlyexcavated in more than 100 quarries, processed almost everywhere and sold all over the world.

Carrara Marble takes its name from the Italian cityof Carrara where it has been quarried for morethan 2000 years and is still being quarried to thisday at a rate of about 1 500 000 tons per year. Itwas during Roman times that the marble started tobe extracted in great quantities as it became thematerial of choice for public buildings across theRoman Empire.

We are not far from the truth if we state that inthe collective memory, in ordinary people or in anytechnical office not devoted expressly to stone,marble is automatically associated with the wordCarrara. Indisputably, for decades and decades,there has been this word association: marble meansCarrara and Carrara means marble. In few othercommodity sectors is a word so automatically asso-ciated with a name, engendering an identificationprocess that, despite the inexorable onslaught of glo-balization, continues to exist.

The Carrara district is an area/industry that wasable – for a variety of reasons not easily repeatablein future stone history – from the dawn of the stonesector to trigger a flywheel effect on a global scale.The district is part of a wider territory – the ApuanAlps region, northwestern Tuscany, Italy – wherefive important extraction areas for marble produc-tion can be recognized; Lunigiana area, Garfagnanaarea, Versilia area, Massa area and the Carrara areasensu stricto. This region is approximately 30 kmlong and 12 km wide with marble outcrops usefulfor commercial purposes covering over 75 km2.

The term Carrara Marble, geographically refer-ring to the marbles extracted in the surroundingsof the town of Carrara, is in reality a general one,

erroneously used for a long time to define a multi-tude of different marbles (more than one hundredcommercial varieties) extracted in the whole ApuanAlps region. Such misleading usage, substantiallyjustified by the long history of all the marbles pro-duced in the Apuan Alps region and by their com-mercial impact, can generate misunderstandings,since it is often believed to define a single commer-cial variety.

It would therefore be more correct to deal withApuan Alps marbles, the most famous of which isthe Carrara Marble sensu stricto.

Formal name for this proposed ‘global

heritage stone resource’

‘Carrara Marble’.

Origin of name

The name ‘Carrara Marble’ takes its origin fromCarrara, a small town located at the foot of theApuan Alps, Massa province, Northwest Tuscanyregion, Italy.

Geological name

Marbles and dolomitic marbles (the ‘CarraraMarbles’).

Other names

In local usage the term ‘Apuan Alps marbles’ indi-cates all the marble formations cropping out in the

From: Pereira, D., Marker, B. R., Kramar, S., Cooper, B. J. & Schouenborg, B. E. (eds) 2015. Global HeritageStone: Towards International Recognition of Building and Ornamental Stones. Geological Society, London,Special Publications, 407, 137–154. First published online February 23, 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/SP407.21# 2015 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved.For permissions: http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/permissions. Publishing disclaimer: www.geolsoc.org.uk/pub_ethics

at Books Editorial Committee on May 19, 2017http://sp.lyellcollection.org/Downloaded from

http://sp.lyellcollection.org/

whole Apuan Alps area while ‘Carrara marble’stands for the Liassic marbles mainly located inthe northwestern Apuan Alps area in the surround-ings of the town of Carrara.

Commercial designations

Contrary to what might be thought to be theso-called Carrara Marble, which is often identifiedmerely as white marble or as the very famous Statu-ary by the non-experts in the field, Carrara Marblecomprises a wide variety of types of marble withdifferent chromatic and structural characteristics.Quantitatively and industrially most important, theMarble sensu stricto formation offers some com-mercial types that are clearly defined for the entireextension of this formation all over the ApuanAlps. Such commercial types are seven, and arethe following:

(1) ‘Marmo Bianco Carrara’ (White Carraramarble);

(2) ‘Marmo Venato’ (Veined marble);(3) ‘Marmo Bardiglio’ (Bardiglio marble);(4) ‘Marmo Nuvolato’ (Cloud-like marble);(5) ‘Marmo Arabescato’ (Arabesque-like marble);(6) ‘Marmo Statuario’/‘Statuario Venato’ (Statu-

ary marble/Veined statuary);(7) ‘Marmo Calacata’ (Calacata marble).

These can be subdivided into many other typesdue to slight chromatic variations, which are often

characteristics of a very restricted area or just onequarry, or even one limited period of time. Themost relevant characteristics of the seven mainvarieties are summarized below.

(1) ‘Marmo Bianco Carrara (White Carraramarble): ‘White Carrara’(Fig. 1a) is one ofthe classical Carrara marbles. It is a fine- tomid-coarse-grained marble, more or lesshomogeneously pearl-white coloured or withtiny grey spots and thin, short veins irregularlydistributed. Its dominant characteristic is thatit contains only a very limited number of im-purities in the form of micro-cryptocrystallinepyrite. The three main varieties of White Car-rara are classed according to the colour of thegroundmass and are known as C, C/D andD. The C variety has a very light groundmasswith an even vein pattern that is not verymarked. C/D varieties have a regular ground-mass but not as white as the C variety, whereasthe D variety also has a regular pattern but adarker, white-greyish groundmass.

In many places, these varieties are almostidentical (with respect to colour and decora-tion) to the ‘Marmo Venato’ (see 2 below),hence it is often difficult to draw a validboundary in-between. One particular varietyis Bianco P, quarried in the Massa basin(see Principal Location of Quarries). This isa very sought-after material due to its

Fig. 1. The main commercial varieties of the Apuan Alps marble.

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compactness and homogeneous, veinless andalmost completely white colour.

Traditionally White Carrara is cut againstthe grain (the hard way) or, less frequently,with the grain (the easy way). It is quarriedin all the Carrara basins except Pescina-Boccanaglia (see Principal Location of Quar-ries). In the other Apuan quarry sites, whitemarble with similar characteristics to WhiteCarrara tends to be called by local names,often corresponding to the place where it isquarried.

(2) ‘Marmo Venato’ (Veined marble): This is amid-grained, pearl-white to light grey marble(Fig. 1b) with a fairly regular network ofmore or less dark grey veins (centimetre tomillimetre in width). On the whole, this vari-ety comprises many sub types whose aspectand structure range from an unreworked meta-breccia to almost regular compositional alter-nations. Like White Carrara, this variety canbe classed either as C, C/D or D. Some typescome from the Carrara area sensu stricto (seePrincipal Location of Quarries) mainly fromGioia basin, while other varieties are quarriedin the areas of Massa, Fivizzano and Minuc-ciano (see Principal Location of Quarries). Itis one of the most common varieties through-out the Apuan Alps.

Traditionally Venato materials are cutagainst the grain (the hard way) or perpen-dicular to the grain (the easy way) dependingon the desired decorative effect.

(3) ‘Marmo Bardiglio’ (Bardiglio marble): Thisfine-grained marble (Fig. 1c) is characterizedby a grey colour due to abundant microcrys-talline pyrite. Several, usually dark grey toblackish veins are frequent, locally forminga sub variety known as veined ‘Bardiglio’;dolomitic levels may be present as well. Thename of this family comes from a deriva-tion of the Spanish word ‘pardo’, which isthe colour dark grey, which also refers to acloudy sky.

The Bardiglio family is one of the mosttypical of the Apuan Alps and is characterizedby a very compact structure with the peculiarfairly even dark grey colour of the ground-mass. The Imperial variety, typical of Gar-fagnana (see Principal Location of Quarries),has an even grey-blue groundmass with nomarked veins. Traditionally Bardiglio ismainly cut against the grain (the hard way)or parallel to the grain (the easy way). Bardi-glio varieties are found to a varying extent inall the quarry sites throughout the Apuan Alps.

(4) ‘Marmo Nuvolato’ (Cloud-like marble):Marmo Nuvolato (Fig. 1d) is a fine- to

medium-grained grey marble crossed bynumerous, more or less marked, light grey towhitish veins and irregular strips. This vari-ety often includes more homogeneous greybodies or metabreccia lenses, respectivelyresembling the ‘Bardiglio’ and ‘Arabescato’types (see 5 below).

(5) ‘Marmo Arabescato’ (Arabesque-like mar-ble): These are meta-breccias (Fig. 1e) withpredominant clasts and boulders of white-to-grey marbles in a minor, more or less darkgrey carbonate matrix; the fragments mainlyderive from White Carrara, Veined and‘Nuvolato/Bardiglio’ types. An appreciatedsub-variety is the ‘Marmo Brouille,’ quarriedmainly in the Colonnata basin (see PrincipalLocation of Quarries), is characterized bywell-marked grey matrix in veins thicker andmore persistent than in the normal ‘Arabes-cati.’ The name of this family comes fromthe geometric patterns typical of Islamic art.Traditionally this variety is mainly cutagainst the grain (the hard way), or parallelto the grain (the easy way), so as to highlightthe material’s decorative qualities.

It is quarried mostly in the Versilia area butis also found in the Garfagnana and Massaareas and to a lesser extent in the Carraraarea (see Principal Location of Quarries).

(6) ‘Marmo Statuario’/‘Statuario Venato’(Statuary marble/Veined Statuary): Thisis very pure coarse-grained marble (Fig. 1f),ivory-white to very light yellow-cream col-oured that normally has no veins or somevery shaded ones. It has been used for sculpt-ing since Roman times because of its ivory‘warm’ colour and its particular crystallinetexture that naturally lends itself to chisellingwork. Where some accessory minerals formwidespread, anastomosed thin veins, the veinpattern is more frequent and evident, and thematerial is called Statuario Venato.

Statuario marble, together with CalacataMarble (see 7 below) is among the mostrenowned and precious of the entire Apuanregion. Production is concentrated in the Car-rara basins of Torano and Miseglia (see Prin-cipal Location of Quarries). Traditionally thematerial is cut against the grain (the hardway).

(7) ‘Marmo Calacata’ (Calacata marble): Thename (Fig. 1g) derives from the locality Cala-cata north of Torano village in the Pescina-Boccanaglia basin (see Principal Locationof Quarries) where this variety is mostlyexploited. It is a meta-breccia with very lightwhite-yellowish marble clasts and, rarely,light greenish and yellow-ochreous veins.

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A highly precious sub-variety is the so-called‘Calacata Macchia Oro’ (Goldspotted Cala-cata).

Traditionally the material is cut against thegrain (the hard way).

In addition to these seven main commercialtypes, at least two more varieties should be men-tioned: Marmo ‘Paonazzo’ (Purple-Violet Mar-ble) and Marmo ‘Zebrino’ (Striped Marble). TheMarmo ‘Paonazzo’ (Purple-Violet Marble) is ameta-breccia with clasts chiefly derived from Stat-uary and/or Calacata types, with a characteristicpurple-violet pigmentation of the clasts. TheMarmo ‘Zebrino’ (Striped Marble) is a variety con-sisting of decimetre-thick layers of white-yellowishmarbles regularly alternated with thinner beds ofgrey-greenish marble. At places, the truly marblerock shifts into a sort of calc-schist, globally sim-ilar to the Statuary and named ‘Cremo Delicato’(light cream-coloured marble) or ‘Cremo Tirreno’when the veins are green-greenish. Cremo Delicatois quarried in the Carrara basins of Torano and Mis-eglia whilst the Cremo Tirreno variety is quarriedin Versilia (southern Apuan Alps) (see PrincipalLocation of Quarries). Traditionally both materialsare cut against the grain (the hard way).

Marmo ‘Paonazzo’ (Purple-Violet Marble)and Marmo ‘Zebrino’ (Striped Marble) are statisti-cally not relevant, are produced in very limitedamounts but have a large worldwide diffusion andare quite renowned from a decorative point of view.

The incidence of the most important commercialvarieties in the global production of the Apuan Alpsregion is as follows:

† ‘Marmo Bianco Carrara’ (White Carraramarble): c. 53.5%;

† ‘Marmo Venato’ (Veined marble): c. 24,8%;† ‘Marmo Bardiglio’ (Bardiglio marble): c. 3%;† ‘Marmo Nuvolato’ (Cloud-like marble): c. 1.5%;† ‘Marmo Arabescato’ (Arabesque-like marble):

c. 2.9% (+1.4% Brouille variety);† ‘Marmo Statuario’/‘Statuario Venato’ (Statuary

marble/Veined statuary): c. 4%;† ‘Marmo Calacata’ (Calacata marble): c. 3.5%;† Others c. 2.7% (including Marmo ‘Paonazzo’,

Marmo ‘Zebrino’, ‘Cremo Delicato’, ‘CremoTirreno’, numerous Meta-breccias and thecalc-schists ‘Cipollini’).

As a final remark, it should be emphasized onceagain that what is worldwide referred to simply as‘Carrara Marble’ consists, in reality, of more than200 varieties, each of which has been given a differ-ent commercial name. As is easily understandable,such a process has generated an almost uncontrolledproliferation of commercial definitions with therelated difficulties in properly identifying eachspecific variety and/or selecting it.

Area of occurrence

Carrara Marble and all the related commercialvarieties occur within the Apuan Alps region, north-western Tuscany, Italy (Fig. 2). This region isapproximately 30 km long and 12 km wide withmarble outcrops useful for commercial purposescovering over 75 km2.

Principal location of quarries

Marble quarrying activities throughout the entireApuan Alps region are carried out in five mainareas (Fig. 3):

† Carrara area (Western Apuan Alps – ‘C’ inFig. 3): municipality of Carrara;

† Massa area (Western Apuan Alps – ‘M’ inFig. 3): municipality of Massa;

† Lunigiana area (Northern Apuan Alps – ‘L’ inFig. 3): municipality of Fivizzano;

† Garfagnana area (Northeastern Apuan Alps –‘G’ in Fig. 3): municipalities of Vagli, Minuc-ciano, Villa Collemandina;

† Versilia area (Southern Apuan Alps – ‘V’ inFig. 3): municipalities of Stazzema, Seravezza.

All these areas take the global name of CarraraMarble District, although some of them are objec-tively at a distance from the Carrara basins sensustricto.

Carrara Area (Western Apuan Alps)

It is a vast region, which develops altogether overan area of over 2000 hectares: it is divided mor-phologically into three deeply-set valleys separatedfrom one another by the steep slopes of MountMaggiore. These valleys, extending from the north-east to the southwest, correspond to the mainmarble extraction basins, which from west toeast are Torano (with the sub-basin of Pescina-Boccanaglia), Miseglia-Fantiscritti and Colonnata,named after the three tiny quarrying villages en-sconced there. The currently active quarries in thewhole Carrara area are 81.

The production of these basins is the highest(approximately 1 000 000 tons/year) of the entireApuan Alps areas and accounts for more than 70%of the whole yearly marble production. This areais the one with the highest number of undergroundquarries in the world.

Massa Area (Western Apuan Alps)

The Massa area belongs entirely to the municipa-lity of Massa: it covers a small territory and itsbasin is the least extensive of the Apuan Alpsregion. Its production, quantitatively limited,

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comes from a dozen quarries, two of which areunderground.

Lunigiana Area (Northern Apuan Alps)

This area corresponds to the north-nortwestern partof the Apuan Alps and consists of various sub-basins, the most important of which are MonteSagro and Equi. It has fewer than 10 quarries, produ-cing approximately 100 000 tons/year.

Garfagnana Area (Northeastern Apuan Alps)

The Garfagnana area is located in the northeasternpart of the Apuan Alps close to the villages of Gra-molazzo, Minucciano and Ugliancaldo. It includesthe Arnetola, Acqua Bianca, Orto di Donna, Boanaand Vagli sub-basins with a total of about 20 quar-ries. The average yearly production is around100 000 tons.

Versilia Area (Southern Apuan Alps)

In the Versilia area, the extractive activity is locatedin the Seravezza and Stazzema territories (Lucca

province). In particular, the Mt. Altissimo sub-basinincludes some important quarries (Cervaiole in thesoutheast and Cava La Buca in the east) that arenoteworthy. There are approximately 15 activequarries with an overall yearly production of about150 000 tons.

The marble formation is strongly characterizedby the presence of the ‘Arabescati’ types, whichin this area reach their maximum diffusion andvariety. As far as the distribution and the occur-rence of the various marble varieties is concerned,only the ‘Whites’, ‘Venati’, ‘Nuvolati’ and ‘Arabes-cati’ can be found (though in markedly diverseamounts) in every exploitation area of the ApuanAlps. Of particular note are the following:

† ‘White Carrara’ of good to very good quality isfrom all the localities and represents the bulk ofthe Apuan marble production as a whole. Note-worthy are:W the ‘Bianco P’, famous for the almost total

absence of veins, today more or less totallyworked out but, maybe, still with tinybodies in the Carrara, Massa and Vagli (Gar-fagnana) areas;

Fig. 2. Area of occurrence of the Apuan Alps marbles (Istituto Geografico De Agostini 1993; Meccheri et al. 2007).




W some very homogeneous and fine-grainedwhite from Carrara, Massa, Equi (Lunigi-ana), Gorfigliano (Lunigiana), Vagli (Gar-fagnana), Mt. Altissimo (Versilia) and Mt.Corchia (Versilia).

† Because of their marked resemblance to the‘White Carrara’, the ‘Venati’ are also diffuselypresent. A global distinction can be made be-tween ‘Venato forte’ (heavy veined) and ‘Venatodebole’ (light veined) sub-types, the differencebeing the major or minor (respectively) dark-ness, thickness and persistence of the vein

framework crosscutting the whitish light-greybulk rock. The ‘Venato debole’ type is quarriedalmost everywhere, and the whole productionis comparable to that of the ‘White Carrara’,whilst the ‘Venato forte’ comes from somemarble levels in the Orto di Donna (Gramolazzo,Lunigiana), Mt. Altissimo (Versilia) and Passodella Focolaccia (Gorfigliano–Garfagnana) dis-tricts (very rarely from other areas).

† The ‘Nuvolati’ forms large bodies with no par-ticular distribution inside the major ‘WhiteCarrara’ and ‘Light Venati’ types (Carrara,

Fig. 3. Principal location of the Apuan Alps marbles. C, Carrara area; M, Massa area; L, Lunigiana area; G, Garfagnanaarea; V, Versilia area (Meccheri et al. 2007).

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Massa, Seravezza (Versilia), Mt. Corchia (Versi-lia) and Panie group (Versilia)) or thick bedsalternated with ‘White Carrara’ and ‘HeavyVeined’ levels (Orto di Donna (Lunigiana), Mt.Altissimo (Versilia) and Passo della Focolaccia(Massa)) to form a kind of well-developedprimary stratification. Probably due to the lowcommercial request in the last fifteen to twentyyears, the ‘Nuvolati’ production has been ratherscarce.

† In contrast, the ‘Arabescati’ are intenselyexploited in various areas, because they fre-quently combine decorative beauty with high-quality physical–mechanical features. Manykinds of the ‘Brouille’ marble are extractedmostly in the three Carrara basins; the ‘Arabe-scato Arnetola’ comes from Vagli (Garfagnana);the ‘Arabescato Faniello’ comes from Arni(Versilia); the ‘Altissimo, Cervaiole’ and ‘Brec-cia Rio Serra’ are exploited in the southern Mt.Altissimo (Versilia); the ‘Arabescato Corchia’comes from the quarries of the homonymousmountain (Versilia).

Regarding the other varieties:

† in the Carrara area the ‘Statuari’ and ‘VeinedStatuari’ give the widest and most continuouslevels, but interesting though scattered outcropsare also present in the Massa area and in theMt. Altissimo region (Versilia);

† the ‘Calacata’ types are almost all confined tothe Carrara inland as well, but in other zonesminor bodies are associated with the ‘Statuari’or crop out as particular variations of local ‘Ara-bescati’, for example, the ‘Calacata Arnetola’(Vagli – Garfagnana);

† conversely, the ‘Bardigli’ and ‘Veined Bardigli’are more regularly present in all the Apuanmarbles and, though forming usually restrictedlenses, they give locally important types amongwhich the best known is the ‘Bardiglio Cap-pella’ near Seravezza (Versilia).

Apart from the ‘Arabescati’, ‘Calacata’ and ‘Pao-nazzo’ breccia-like marbles, other commerciallyimportant meta-breccias are provided by somehorizons stratigraphically distinct from the LiassicMarble formation sensu stricto. They mainlyoccur in Seravezza inland, southern Apuan Alps(Versilia) – the Seravezza Breccia – and in theArni (Versilia) and Arnetola (Vagli–Garfagnana)districts. They include marbles like the ‘ArabescatoVagli’, the ‘Breccia Rossa Arnetola’ and the ‘Ara-bescato Arni’.

Finally, the particular family of ‘Cipollini’,mainly represented by Cretaceous–Eocene calc-schists, mainly occurs in the districts of Gorfigliano(Garfagnana), Arnetola (Garfagnana) and Boana(Vagli–Garfagnana), Arni (Versilia) and Isola

Santa (Versilia), and at Volegno (Versilia) in thesouthern Apuan Alps. The most classical exampleis probably the ‘Fantastico Arni’ from north ofArni village.

Brief notes on the history of excavation

The Carrara area is probably the sole area in theworld where all the most important exploitationtechniques, including the most rudimentary histori-cal equipments, have been set up, tested, developedand exported to many other marble areas in theworld. It can be objectively stated that the Carraraarea has always been a school area or a trainingarea not only for many other national districts butalso for many worldwide operators. In light ofthis, it is here considered opportune to include abrief focus on the history of excavation.

The first sure data concerning exploitation of themarble deposits in the Apuan Alps (Carrara area)date back to the beginning of the 1st century BCwhen the Apuan region had already long beenunder Roman control. At that time the marble wascalled ‘lunense marble’, as the Apuan extractioncentre was identified with the town of Luna. Thiswas a Roman colony founded about a centurybefore, from whose harbour the ‘naves lapidariae’(stone ships) loaded with this precious material setsail for Rome. The remains of the Roman city canstill be seen on the plains of the present-day Luni,about ten kilometres away from Carrara.

Ancient evidence regarding the use of thelunense marble for both public and private buildingsin Rome indicates that at that time the extraction ofmarble must have already been carried out on anindustrial scale. What is unsure is if it was reallythe Romans who first discovered the deposits.Perhaps the Apuan Ligurians, the people who inhab-ited the region before the Roman invasion, orthe Etruscans, who certainly occupied at least thecoastal strip of land, had already made use of theApuan marble deposits. However, be that as it may,excavation was not as important as it was duringRoman times.

In-depth studies have revealed the presence ofnumerous locations showing signs of ancient ‘cut-tings’ that can be attributed to the Roman Epoch.What proves that the Romans were well aware ofthe expanse of the Apuan deposits is the fact thatthese locations, which we can rightly say correspondto the same number of quarries or groups of quarries,are homogeneously distributed among the threemarble basins exploited today (Torano, Miseglia-Fantiscritti, Colonnata). Moreover, they often corre-spond to quarries still in operation today too.

But, the cuttings are not the only findings. Apartfrom many tools used for excavation, pieces of




handwork, inscriptions and epigraphs have alsobeen found in the exploitation areas. These showhow the extraction activities were structured accord-ing to a well defined organization, which stronglyresembled the extraction techniques in use in theApuan quarries up to some decades ago.

Without machines to cut the rock, this operationhad of course to be carried out by hand with theaid of a hammer and chisel, trying as now to takefullest advantage of the natural fractures and therock faces with less mechanical resistance. This ishow the ‘caesurae’, or rather the channels formingthe main cuts into the mountain, were made readyfor the separation of the blocks, which were thendivided and cut into square shapes of a manageablesize. The latter operations were carried out bymaking ‘formelle’, V-section cuts along the surfacesto be opened where iron plates were inserted. Ironwedges were placed between these plates, whichwere then hammered in until the channel openedup. Sometimes, in order to break the block awayfrom the mountain, wooden wedges were inserted,which, once wet, increased in volume and soexerted the necessary pressure to break the rock.However, it remains uncertain whether this tech-nique was really used by the Romans or whetherthe traces of its application visible on some find-ings should be attributed to decidedly more recenttimes.

An important conceptual difference, comparedwith more recent extraction techniques, is rep-resented by the fact that the raw material was trans-formed into a semi-finished product in the quarryitself. On the one hand, this avoided the uselesstransport downhill of extra weight that would thenhave been eliminated in the processing stage: onthe other hand, this meant that particular care wasrequired when lowering the handwork, which wasvery much more fragile than the rough blocks. Ithas now been confirmed by various studies thatthe latter operation was carried out by the ‘lizzatura’method (see Related heritage issues), used in theApuan basins to lower the blocks downhill untilabout thirty years ago. Such a differentiation, asfar as extraction activities are concerned, inevitablyled to specialization of the workers, who weredivided into different categories according totheir different duties within the organization of aquarry. The ‘caesores’ took care of the main cutsinto the mountain; the ‘quadratarii’ were assignedthe job of squaring the blocks, a job that requireda certain expertise in the use of the chisel; finally,the ‘maquinarii’ were responsible for lifting andtransporting the blocks. All the quarry activitieswere led and supervised by the ‘magister ab mar-moribus’, the equivalent of today’s quarry foreman.

Unfortunately it is impossible to estimate, evenloosely, the extent of the extraction activities in

the Roman Epoch. Nevertheless, the great quantityof Apuan marble used in Monumental Rome and,above all, the great number of types used, amongwhich we find Statuario, White Carrara and Bardi-glio, gives reason to suppose that the number ofquarries was much higher than the number still inexistence today. Important information has beenpassed on to us thanks to the writings of Giovenalewho at the beginning of the 2nd century A.C. spokeof how the roads of Rome were invaded by carts car-rying loads of lunense marble.

There does exist however an estimate regard-ing the number of people engaged in each Romanquarry. It is calculated that in a medium-sized quarryworking at its maximum capacity there were about ahundred people in all, including both the work-men and the supervisors. This is an extremely sig-nificant figure especially when multiplied by thetotal number of quarries in existence. However, asis well known, at that time labour was extremelycheap and consequently prices were advantageousand continued to be so at least until the 4thcentury A.C. when the big economic crisis that hitthe entire empire culminated in prohibition of theextraction of lunense marble.

There are no data concerning the exploitation ofApuan marbles for a very long time after Romantimes. Moreover, at least until the 2nd centuryanyway, excavation, even if it was not completelyinterrupted, was probably of little importance.

Only towards the end of the 13th century, underthe reign of Federico I, can it be said that extractionactivities were resumed in the Carrara basins. Atthat time excavation techniques must have beenmuch the same as those applied in Roman times.The operations were still carried out exclusivelymanually, and this was so at least until the 18thcentury when the first excavations using explosives,and in particular ‘black powder’, were carried out.Obviously, the use of explosives was immediatelywidely approved as it allowed for the breakingaway of vast quantities of rock in a relatively shorttime. This technique making use of explosives wascalled ‘varata’ (blasting). Once the rock face to beknocked down had been established, one or more‘mines’ were made. First of all, deep holes, orrather proper shafts in the rocky mass were madeby hand; then, at the end of these shafts, with theaid of hydrochloric acid, chambers big enough tocontain the necessary quantity of black powderwere dug out. The explosion caused the breakingaway of huge portions of mountain in irregularblocks that were then cut down, again manually,into saleable sizes. However, this technique hadone big drawback in that it destroyed a great dealof good marble, and it produced an enormous quan-tity of waste material, which increased the size ofthe marble dumps out of all proportion. No new

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techniques to replace the destructive blasting systemcame to light until the end of 19th century.

In 1889, at the International Exhibition in Paris, anew system was presented that allowed for thecutting of marble with a helicoidal wire. In lessthan six years Carrara immediately adopted thisnew revolutionary system, which offered the greatadvantage of performing large cuts directly intothe mountain face.

The performances, the versatility and the favour-able economic aspects of this technology acceler-ated its diffusion in all the Carrara basins, makingthe helicoidal wire the top technology for morethan 80 years, until the appearance of diamondwire (1978–1979). Since then, the last 35 yearsbelong to the recent history of marble exploitationwith the definitive adoption of diamond wire andits use together with the chain saw in a combinationthat provides the best results in terms of pro-ductivity, safety, quarry yield and versatility.

Geological age and geological setting

In the regional context of the inner northern ItalianApennines, the Apuan Alps is an uplifted andseverely eroded region (the ‘Apuan core complex’;Carmignani & Kligfield 1990) in which the Tertiaryfold-and-thrust structure of the Apennine chainis best exposed. The deepest part consists of theso-called Apuan Metamorphic Complex (AMC)that comprises the metamorphic sequences of theMassa Unit and the underlying Apuan Unit (Auto-chtonous Auctorum): the latter includes almostall of the ornamental stones of concern here andare identified under the general term ‘CarraraMarble’.

Upwards the AMC is followed by unmetamor-phosed cover units; that is, the Tuscan Nappe, theCanetolo Unit, and some units from the LigurianDomain named Liguride Units sensu lato.

The lithostratigraphic sequence of the ApuanUnit is formed by the following main groups ofmeta-sediments:

(1) Middle–Late Triassic to Early–Middle Lias-sic meta-dolostones, dolomitic marbles andpure marbles;

(2) Middle Liassic to Early Cretaceous chertymarbles, meta-cherts and calc-schists;

(3) Early Cretaceous to Early Oligocene phyllitesand meta-siltites, locally containing marbleinterlayers, calc-schists and lenses of meta-calc-arenites;

(4) Late Oligocene to very Early(?) Miocenequartz-feldspathic micaceous meta-sandstone.

This sequence was deposited over a portion ofthe palaeo-African margin, and, during the Ter-tiary, both the Alpine cover and its pre-Alpine

(Hercynian) basement were involved in the Alpineorogenesis through two, synmetamorphic, main tec-tonic events.

The first deformation phase (D1), active atthe Oligocene–Miocene boundary (between about30 My BP and 25 My BP) was compression relatedand caused the above-said tectonic units to pile up.The rocks of the Apuan Unit suffered severedeformation through development of a penetrativefoliation (S1), axial planar to NE-facing, submilli-metric to pluri-kilometric isoclinal folds coeval togreen schist facies metamorphism. The evolutionof this phase led to several laminations along theflanks of the folds, widespread elongate lineationparallel to the S1 (stretching of clasts, fossils, etc.,boudinage, linear preferred orientation of meta-morphic minerals) and an increasing developmentof sheath geometry in the fold style passing fromWSW to ENE.

The following tectonic phase (D2) began inEarly Miocene (nearly 25 My BP) as a consequenceof the tectonic regime’s inversion from compressionto extension. This made the piled units progressivelyuplifted in junction, since Late Miocene, with thefirst openings of the eastern Ligurian and Tyrrhe-nian Seas. This uplift resulted in a large-scale posi-tive structure (the Apuan ‘dome’) characterized by avery complicated internal geometry and a NW–SElengthened shape.

The most frequent D2 structures are variouslysized folds, with axial planar foliation (S2)accompanied by a green-schist facies blastesis, ret-rogressive with respect to the syn-late D1 imprint-ing. On the whole, these folds form staircase setsdiverging from the main hinge zone of the regionalmegastructure toward both the SW and ENE alongthe SW and NE slopes of the ‘dome’. These foldsare often related to several, ductile-to-ductile–brittle shear surfaces whose kinematics matchesthe vergence of the same folds.

During the final stages of the Apuan uplift, theextensional structures gradually changed frommainly ductile to brittle; that is, high angle normalfaults trending both NW–SE and, less frequently,SW–NE.

The Ornamental Stones

The Apuan Alps provide various kinds of ornamen-tal rocks such as pure and impure marbles, dolomiticmarbles, meta-breccias, ‘cipollini’ and meta-sandstones. Since all these rocks are often generallyidentified as ‘Apuan marbles’, or erroneously‘Carrara Marble’, it is worth specifying that:

† The marbles sensu stricto (s.s.; including pure,impure and dolomitic marbles) correspond tothe Lower Liassic Marble s.s. formation of theApuan Unit sequence.




† Meta-breccias are meta-rudites principally per-taining to stratigraphic horizons older or youn-ger than the Marbles s.s. but to some extentalso to the latter (the ‘arabesque’ type, e.g.).

† The ‘cipollini’ are calc-schists that form thickand persistent bodies corresponding to youngerformations and a few thin levels also at the topof the Marble s.s. (‘Zebrino’, e.g.).

† Finally, the Upper Oligocene flysch is exploitedfor production of meta-sandstones and darkgrey–blackish meta-siltites and phyllites(‘Pietra del Cardoso’).

The so-called Carrara area is one of the extractionareas that can be identified within the Apuan Alpscontext: it is the largest and the one with thehighest number of active quarries.

The microstructural variability of the Apuanmarble varieties may have been known for a longtime but has only recently been the subject ofin-depth studies due to the fact that it is closelyrelated to the alteration/degradation of the materialsand their behaviour in situ.

Petrographic name

Due to the petrographic variability of the different‘Carrara’ Marble varieties, this paragraph reportsthe petrographic names of the seven main commer-cial varieties, as described in Commercial designa-tions. Names are given according the standard EN12407:

(1) ‘Marmo Bianco Carrara’ (White Carraramarble), marble;

(2) ‘Marmo Venato’ (Veined marble), marble;(3) ‘Marmo Bardiglio’ (Bardiglio marble),

marble;(4) ‘Marmo Nuvolato’ (Cloud-like marble),

marble(5) ‘Marmo Arabescato’ (Arabesque-like marble),

metamorphic breccia;(6) ‘Marmo Statuario’/’Statuario Venato’ (Statu-

ary marble/Veined statuary), marble;(7) ‘Marmo Calacata’ (Calacata marble), marble.

Primary colour(s) and aesthetics of stone

Making reference to the seven main commercialvarieties listed in Commercial designations, thefollowing primary colours and aesthetic of the‘Carrara Marble’ can be identified:

‘Marmo Bianco Carrara’(White Carraramarble): ‘Marmo Bianco Carrara’ ranges fromwhite to a greyish colour with shaded greyveins in an irregular pattern. The three main var-ieties of White Carrara are classed according tothe colour of the groundmass and are known as

C, C/D and D. The C variety has a very lightgroundmass (almost white) with an even veinpattern that is not very marked; C/D varietieshave a regular groundmass but not as white asthe C variety, whereas the D variety also has aregular pattern but a darker, white-greyishgroundmass.

‘Marmo Venato’ (Veined marble): ‘MarmoVenato’ has a groundmass varying in colourfrom white to grey with a clear evident patternthat is often oriented. Like White Carrara thisvariety can be classed either as C, C/D or D.

‘Marmo Bardiglio’ (Bardiglio marble) and‘Marmo Nuvolato’ (Cloud-like marble):These marbles have fairly even dark-grey colourof the groundmass. Dark-grey and whitish veinpatterns may be present or, in the Nuvolatovariety typical of Carrara, irregular but orientedwhitish-colour shades. The Imperial varietytypical of Garfagnana area has an even grey 2blue groundmass with no marked veins.

‘Marmo Arabescato’ (Arabesque-like marble):‘Marmo Arabescato’ has white or grey (or othercolour) groundmass with an irregular pattern ofdarker-colour veins that generally follow a pre-ferential direction. Dominant colours of thevein are: intense grey (Arabescato Carrara, Ara-bescato Cervaiole, Arabescato Corchia), grey–dark greenish (Arabescato Faniello) and creamy-brownish (Arabescato Vagli).

‘Marmo Statuario’/‘Statuario Venato’ (Statuarymarble/Veined statuary): These marbles have apure white groundmass, verging on pale yellow-ish-ivory, that normally has no veins or somevery shaded ones. Where the vein pattern ismore frequent and evident (Statuario Venato),the colour of the veins is light to intense grey.

‘Marmo Calacata’ (Calacata marble): ‘MarmoCalacata’ has white–ivory-white saccharoidgroundmass with soft, shaded grey, light-greento light-yellowveins. These veins sometimes formundulating bands that are more or less regular.

Natural variability

Refer to Commercial designations.

Composition

The Apuan marbles are carbonate rocks (limestoneand minor dolostone), which re-crystallized undermetamorphic conditions. Chemical analyses carriedout on a wide range of different varieties (belongingmostly to the Carrara area) give 95–99 wt% CaCO3.From a petrographical point of view, the followingminerals can be found:

† Essential mineral: calcite;

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† Accessory minerals, more frequent: pyrite,muscovite, quartz, dolomite, opaque minerals(hematite, magnetite);

† Accessory minerals, less frequent: sericite, epi-dotes, titanite.

Because of its quite pure (CaCO3 component) com-position, the huge waste material of the ‘ravaneti’constitutes a very important geo-resource. At Car-rara there are several industries that work marblewaste for calcium carbonate production (powder,0–2 mm in size; granulated material 2–20 mm insize) and its use in other industries (paper, fillers,pharmacological products, painting etc.).

Technical properties

Values of the most significant technical propertiesfor the seven commercial types illustrated in Com-mercial designations are reported in Table 1.

Suitability

Since its earlier history, the Carrara Marble hasdemonstrated technical properties that have madeit suitable for any type of use and applications:building, decoration, architecture, sculpture, funer-ary art, urban landscape and, more recently,modern digital design. Historically speaking, inpublic areas the marble has been used practicallyeverywhere, and for any purpose; cobbled pave-ments or streets paved with slabs made fromelements laid edge to edge, sidewalks, pedestriansroads, and so on. The urban landscape and thecommon buildings have always taken advantage ofits versatility; slabs for steps, balconies, skirting,fountains, benches, and so on. The oldest buildingsare built almost entirely of this marble; from walls tostairs, landings to balconies, terraces to ledges,lintels for doors and windows. In the interior it hasbeen used for tables, kitchen-tops and stairs.

A relevant part of the reputation of CarraraMarble is indisputably linked to the name offamous sculpturers, artists and architects such asMichelangelo, Donatello, Jacopo Della Quercia,Canova, Bernini, and many others who decided touse this marble for their most important works. Inthis sense, although it is clear that the carving per-formance of a stone can effectively only bedefined by actually carving/sculpting it, there hasalways been a global agreement on the excellentproperties of the Carrara Marble. A unique mix ofgrain size, purity, texture and grains interlocking,accompanied by what is scientifically defined asaccharoid structure, give many varieties ofCarrara Marble a top-level performance in sculp-ture works, particularly with some varieties suchas Statuario, Statuario Venato, Bianco P and

many others. As with other fine-grain marbles, it isalso particularly suitable in applications where thetranslucency phenomenon is used.

Durability issues

As far as the durability is concerned, attentionshould be paid with some Carrara Marble types tothe following phenomena:

(a) Granular disaggregation concerns the loss ofcohesion in the marble, related to detachmentof crystals. Such a phenomenon is known tooccasionally occur exclusively in low–medium thickness elements installed outdoorsand is mostly confined to White Carrara andVeined Marble commercial varieties.

(b) Bowing is the phenomenon in which the mar-ble elements are affected by dimensional andgeometrical instability: distortion of shape,bending out of shape and warping are themost common evidences. This phenomenonis reported to affect mostly low–mediumthickness elements installed outside with drysystems (mechanical anchors). White Carraraand Veined Marble varieties appear to be themost vulnerable types. Both granular disag-gregation and the bowing phenomena imply aloss of mechanical strength. These phenomenahave been investigated in numerous projectsfor several decades, the largest one being theEuropean project TEAM. Results of theTEAM project are nowadays incorporated inthe European product standard for cladding(EN 1469) in order to limit as much as possiblethe inconvenience related to these phenomena.

(c) Discolouration refers to the tendency ofsome varieties (once again, above all WhiteCarrara and Veined Marble) to, slowly butcontinuously, acquiring a yellowish-brown-ish-orangine tone. The phenomenon, almostexclusively observed in floors (both indoorand outdoor), appears to be related to the inter-action (oxidation) of iron-bearing minerals,dispersed in the marble mass, with the water(proceeding from screed, mortar, cementiciousadhesives, atmospherics etc.). An extremelyrecent European standard (EN 16140) is nowavailable to test the dimension stones for thispossible inconvenience.

After saying that, it is of utmost importance tounderline that these described phenomena are con-fined to some specific varieties, namely WhiteCarrara and Veined Marble, and all those varietiesthat can be substantially assimilated to them. Allthe other commercial types perform well andhave never been shown to be susceptible to theseinconveniences.




Table 1. Some technical properties related to the seven main commercial varieties of Apuane Alps marbles*

TECHNICAL PROPERTY U.M. 1. WhiteCarrara†

2. Veinedmarble‡

3. Bardigliomarble‡

4. Cloud-likemarble§

5. Arabesque-likemarble||

6. Statuarymarble/Veined

statuary}

7. Calacatamarble1

MEAN VALUES/DESCRIPTIONS

Apparent density (EN1936)

Kg/m3 2710 2710 2700 2700 2710 2710 2710

Open porosity (EN 1936) % 0.30 0.40 0.40 0.40 0.40 0.3 0.3Water absorption at

atmospheric pressure(EN 13755)

% 0.07 0.12 0.17 0.15 0.17 0.09 0.11

Flexural strenght in naturalconditions (EN 12372)2

MPa 19.5 11.6 12.0 13.5 13.9 15.9 16.9

Flexural strenght afterexposure to 48 frostcycles (EN 12372 + EN12371)2

MPa 20.3 9.6 9.7 10.7 13.5 13.9 15.6

Uniaxial compressivestrenght (EN 1926)2

MPa 59.1 101.4 98.1 102.4 86.8 91.6 67.2

Slip resistance (honedfinishing) – USRV value(EN 14231)

– 80 (dry)49 (wet)

71 (dry)33 (wet)

63 (dry)30 (wet)

66 (dry)31 (wet)

63 (dry)33 (wet)

59 (dry)47 (wet)

61 (dry)35 (wet)

*Source: The Tuscan Marble identities†Fantiscritti locality (Carrara area)‡Belgia, Gioia, La Piana localities (Carrara area)§Carrara area||Stazzema locality (Versilia area)}Ravaccione, Bettogli localities (Carrara area)1Calocara, Bettogli localities (Carrara area)2orientation of the specimen unknown

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Vulnerability and maintenance of supply

A true assessment of the available marble reserves inthe whole Apuan Alps region has never been done,but reliable estimates (from different sources), theevidence of the physical extension of the MarbleFormation, and its thickness (over 1000 metres insome part of the Apuan Alps) allows one to statethat the available reserves are sufficient for centuriesand centuries.

Buildings and so on

The applications of Carrara Marble are so vast thatit is objectively not easy to synthesize them in a sat-isfactory way. This is increasingly true when wedirect our attention to the fields of sculpture andartistic works, being that innumerable examples ofsuch applications are preserved in a large numberof churches, museums, academies, temples and soon. The following list is therefore a non-exhaustiveone, but it enumerates a selected number of extra-ordinary artworks together with a significant num-ber of civil constructions.

Sculptures (chronological order)

† Temple of Apollo Palatinus (31–28 BC), Rome(Italy).

† Temple (Ara Pacis Augustae (13–9 BC),Campus Martius, Rome (Italy).

† Colossus of Constantine (c. 280–337), Palazzodei Conservatori of the Musei Capitolini, Rome(Italy).

† Fonte Gaia fountain, (1346, restored 1859)Piazza del Campo, Siena (Italy).

† Ilaria del Carretto sepulchre (1408), Cathedral,Lucca (Italy).

† Michelangelo’s Pieta (1497–1499), Basilica diSan Pietro (Vatican City).

† Michelangelo’s David (1501–1504), AcademyGallery, Florence (Italy).

† Michelangelo’s Pope Julius II tomb (1505–1543), Basilica San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome(Italy).

† Michelangelo’s Dying Slave (1513–1516),Louvre Museum, Paris (France).

† The rape of the Sabine women (1574–1580),Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence (Italy).

† Pluto and Proserpina (1621–1622), GalleriaBorghese, Rome (Italy).

† Apollo and Dafne (1622–1625), Galleria Borgh-ese, Rome (Italy).

† Bust of Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1632), Gal-leria Borghese, Rome (Italy).

† The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647–1652),Capella Cornaro, Santa Maria della Vittoriachurch, Rome (Italy).

† Marly Horse (1739–1745), Louvre Museum,Paris (France).

† Antonio Canova’s Paolina Borghese (1804–1808), Villa Borghese, Roma (Italy).

† Persephone (1844), Honolulu Museum of Art,Hawaii (U.S.A.).

† Eternal Springtime (1901), location unknown.† King Edward VII Memorial (1913), Birmingham

(UK).

Buildings (including Recent buildings)

(geographical order)

Europe (Mediterranean Area)

† Museo dei Fori Imperiali – Mercati di Traiano(46 BC–113 AD), Rome (Italy).

† Trajan’s Column (113 AD), Rome (Italy).† Pantheon (126 AD), Rome (Italy).† Miracle Square, Baptistere, Cathedral and

Leaning Tower (1063–1362), Pisa (Italy).† Cathedral, 12th century, Carrara (Italy).† Cathedral (1215–1263), Siena (Italy).† Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral (1296), Flor-

ence (Italy).† Robba Fountain, Ljubljana (Slovenia).† Tripoli Auditorium (Lybia).† Palazzo dei Congressi, Paris (France).† ‘Lingotto’ Fiat Building, Torino (Italy).† Padre Pio Church, San Giovanni Rotondo

(Foggia, Italy).† Grand Arche, Paris (France).† Esso-EUR Headquarters, Rome (Italy).† L’Abeille Insurance Headquarters, Milano

(Italy).† Astrea Villa, Genova (Italy).† Senate Palace, Paris (France).† Chancellor’s Office of Japan, Paris (France).† Bank of France, Montrouge (France).† Bank of France, Clermont-Ferrand (France).† U.R.S.S. Embassy, Paris (France).

Europe (non-Mediterranean Area)

† Marble Arch (1827), London (UK).† Oslo Opera House, Oslo (Norway).† Metro Bruxelles (Belgium).† Alison Lapper Pregnant, Trafalgar square,

London (UK).† St. Petersburg Museum, Russia.† Church of University Clinic, Innsbruck (Austria).† Royal Palace, Warsaw ( Poland).† Terminal of the Liegi Undergound (Belgium).† Central Post, Stuttgart (Germany).

Americas

† Harvard Medical School Buildings, Boston,Massachusetts (USA).




† Aon Center (Chicago) Chicago, Illinois USA).† A. Hammer Museum, Westwood, California

(USA).† IBM Offices building and garage, Clear Lake

Texas (USA).† Hotel Marriot Marquis, Atlanta (USA).† Bogota University, Bogota (Colombia).

Middle East–Far East

† Manila Cathedral (interior), Manila (Philippines).† Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi (UAE).† Akshardham, Delhi (India).† National Library, Canberra (Australia).† Fashion Atelier, Osaka (Japan).† World Trade Center, Osaka (Japan).† Bank Bail, Jakarta (Indonesia).† Bank of Oman, Dubai (UAE).† Buddhist Temple, Singapore (Singapore).† Jeddah University, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).

Related heritage issues

The following issues are considered to be of relevantimportance within the so-called ‘Carrara marblesystem’.

Civic Marble Museum

The Marble Museum was founded in 1982 for thepurpose of collecting and documenting testimonialsto local marble culture. It houses well-rounded col-lections devoted to Roman archeology, history ofthe area, marble samples, industrial archaeology,plaster model and modern sculptures.

It also has a library rich in texts on marbleand local history. Recently added is a multime-dia station showing films on the collections. Themuseum also has outdoor areas displaying arte-facts too large for indoor exhibition. Among themare the cart of a steam-powered tractor for blockhauling (19th century), a flatcar (1890), the lastremaining of the marble railway, a steam-poweredtractor converted to a rock crusher (1910), aloaded sled with annexed machinery for cuttingwith a helical wire, a 19th century gangsaw, and atool extractor wheel from the same period as thegangsaw (1880).

Over the years, the museum has become thevenue where the city’s historical legacy is enshrined,thus providing scholars with valuable material fortheir studies. It is divided into the following sec-tions: Modern Sculpture, Vatteroni’s Donation,Roman Archaeology, Industrial Archaeology, Arti-facts of the Cathedral, Artifacts for Icon, TechnicalApplication, The Marble Gallery, History of theTerritory, Temporary Exhibitions

The Fine Arts Academy

Devoted to people more interested in the historical–artistic viewpoint, in the 14th century arcadedcourtyard of the building in which it is housed,the Academy exhibits an important collection ofRoman marbles divided into three categories: fig-urative sculpture, religious and funerary monumentsand architectural elements. Of particular worth isits collection of Luni (ancient Carrara) sculpture,with works like a man in a toga, a torso clad inarmour, a statue of Leda, a statue of a woman withchiton and mantle, a torso of Minerva.

In addition to the Academy, artwork is featuredat two recently founded institutions, the Car-rara Artistic Marble Consortium (CMAC), and theSculpture Museum. The CMAC, set up in 2004, isprimarily concerned with maintaining and pro-tecting Carrara’s artistic and cultural heritage: itpromotes a trademark for marble to qualify the pro-ducts traditionally made by local artisans fromlocal marbles.

The Sculpture Museum, inaugurated during the2006 Sculpture Biennial, is devoted to the worldof sculpture as a whole; obviously with an emphasison works in marble where Carrara materials reignsupreme. The project is clearly designed to makeCarrara a new Tuscan museum hub, thanks to poss-ible synergies between the two Museums (Marbleand Sculpture) and the Academy.

The Monticolo Pulley

In 1889 at the International Exposition of Paris, arevolutionary machine was presented, which cutmarble blocks with a helicoidal wire (see alsoBrief Notes on The History of Excavation): it wasinvented and patented by the Belgian engineer Che-valier in 1854. Since 1895 it was used also in themarble quarries of Carrara where it became thedominant technology, acquiring, in the meanwhile,a considerable diffusion all over the world.

In 1897, in the quarries of the Carrara basins, aningenious innovation was brought to this technologyby engineer Monticolo. The innovation, the ‘pene-trating pulley’, consisted of a device that consider-ably increased the cutting potential, because it wascapable not only of carrying the wire for the cutbut also of penetrating directly into the rock. Thisinnovation gave a definitive solution to the insuper-able problem of the so-called ‘blind cuts’.

The historical commemoration of the

‘lizzatura’

This commemoration takes place in the quarries inthe basin of Colonnata (Carrara sensu stricto area),usually on the first Sunday of August every year:

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it revives the marble carriage through the stone-boat, named ‘lizzatura’, an extremely dangerousoperation which was used since ancient times.

The stone-boat was a kind of sledge made withthree big trunks put next to each other and shapedlike skis: there was laid the blocks of marble (the‘carica’), with a total weight of 15–20 tons. Inorder to carry the blocks down the mountainside,the stone-boat was driven along the ‘vie di Lizza’(the stone-boating road, a kind of purpose-builtroadbed) or, more frequently, it was lowered downthe ‘ravaneti’ (huge waste deposits, today part ofthe local landscape) covering the downwards slopeof the quarries. The stone-boat was kept by threebig ropes partially coiled around the ‘piri’ (i.e. logsdriven into the marble ground): the ropes wereloosened slowly while a group of workers (sledmen named ‘lizzatori’) laid before the stone boata series of wood sleepers, named ‘parati’. The jobtook 16 or 17 men, under the direction of theCapolizza.

The ‘Lizzatura’ was a tricky, dangerous ballet onsteep slopes with uncertain footing, which dependedupon timing and teamwork. As a matter of fact, theCapolizza decided the path and guided the sled, butthe actual steering was the job of the ‘mollatori’ whowould increase the slack on one of the ropes thatkept the sled from careening down the hill, thusallowing the runners to turn in the other direction.

Usually, this historical commemoration is closedat the end of the morning with the bacon-fat tasting(‘lardo of Colonnata’), which is characteristic of thevillage and is produced in the typical workshopsfamous all over the world.

The ‘ferrovia marmifera’ (the marble railway)

Due to the dangerousness of the ‘Lizzatura’ systemof transportation, many efforts were done to replaceit. The most important step forward was made withthe building of the Ferrovia Marmifera (The MarbleRailway), inaugurated on 19 August 1876. The firsttrip was done 16 years later, in 1892. Once com-pleted, the marble railway covered a distance ofmore than 20 km, with 16 bridges – the Ponti diVara – and a series of 15 tunnels. It had 10 500more metres of secondary lines leading to sawmillsand workshops.

The Marble Railway has been a real masterpieceof engineering that astonished Europe, if we con-sider not only the time of construction, but alsothe descent to overcome (450 m) and various struc-tural challenges. Unfortunately, after World WarTwo and its economic consequences, the railwayproved uneconomical and the municipality decidedto stop it in 1963. Now that the marble railway nolonger exists, its track and one part of the tunnelshave been inherited by powerful modern trucks

representing, at the moment, the only way of trans-port of marble blocks.

In the lower portion of the Miseglia-Fantiscrittibasin, the famous Ponti di Vara is not only a stereo-typed view of Carrara quarries, but also the morevisible testimonials of the old Marble Railway.

The monolith of carbonera quarry

In the Miseglia basin (Carrara area) the quarry ofCarbonera has become famous for a memorableevent unique in the history of excavation of ApuanAlps marbles. In 1928, with the helical wire, a per-fectly integral block of marble was extracted fromthis quarry, deprived of any defect whatsoever andof an incredible size. It in fact measured 18 m inlength by 2.35 m in width and the same in height,and it weighed around 300 tons. The enormousblock, rightly named ‘monolith’, was destined tobecome the obelisk of the ‘Mussolini Forum’ inRome, where it stands to this day, and its transportto this destination represented an epic taskespecially when one considers the methods of trans-port in use at that time. Initially, the monolith wascompletely ‘caged up’ in a structure made ofwood and iron, which weighed 64 tons, and takendown with the ‘Lizzatura’ system with the help of25 steel cables. From the bottom of the mountain,still on the ‘lizza’, it was drawn by more than 30pairs of oxen to the port, ready to be embarked ona purpose-built barge. To cover the 11 km fromthe quarry to the port it took 8 months of extremelyhard work, and to facilitate the advancing of the‘lizza’ on the wooden sleepers, it supposedlyrequired a good 70 000 litres of soap.

The Carrara MARMOTEC fair

The Carrara MARMOTEC is one of the oldest inter-national fairs in the worldwide sector of dimensionstones and one of the two reference fairs in Italy;the other being MARMOMACC in Verona. For 32years it has represented a primary appointment forall the operators linked to the natural stone sectorsuch as traders, professionals, manufacturers ofequipment,tools and plants, architects, designersand buyers and a key event to follow the latest ten-dencies on the natural stone industry in a place stillconsidered as the world capital of marble.

The fair is organized by Internazionale Marmi &Macchine (IMM), a company established in 1978whose activities include promotion, analysis ofmarket trends, technology transfer, project researchand consultancy involving the stone industry onan international scale. Among its numerous initiat-ives, flagship issues are represented by the Awards(Marble Architectural Awards; Dressed StoneDesign Awards; Design Technology Awards) and




the Stone Sectors, and a yearly book edited by IMMis published containing updated and detailed stat-istics about the world’s stone market. The fair takesplace every two years in the Fair Complex of Marinadi Carrara, which covers an area of 95 000 squaremetres, including 34 000 indoors.

Other designations

Taking into consideration the relevant historical,commercial, technical, architectural and social roleplayed by the Carrara Marble, it is here proposedthe additional designation of ‘Global OrnamentalStone’.

Principal literature related to the

designated stone

The principal literature includes Lazzoni 1880;Zaccagna 1881, 1932; Giampaoli 1897; Revere1931; Casalini 1934; Bonatti 1938; D’Albissin1963; S.E.A. (Societa’ Editrice Apuana) 1970–1978; Klapish & Zuber 1973; Crisci et al. 1975;Carmignani & Giglia 1977; Carmignani et al. 1978,2003a, 2003b, 2005; Dolci 1980, 1982, 1985, 1995,1998, 2002, 2003, 2006; ERTAG Regione Toscana1980; Carmignani 1985; Coli et al. 1987, 1988,2002; Capuzzi 1988; Bessi 1989; Bradley &Medda 1989; Coli 1989, 1991, 1992; Carmignani& Kligfield 1990; Bradley 1991, 1998; Dolci &Nista 1992; Blasi et al. 1993; Bosticco et al. 1993;Istituto Geografico De Agostini (Novara) 1993;AA.VV. 1994; Coli & Grandini 1994; Andronio1995; Boineau & Perrier 1995; Meccheri 1996,2000; Bradley et al. 1997; Molli et al. 1997, 2000a,2000b, 2002; AA. VV. 1998; Bargagna 1998;Barsottelli et al. 1998; Chicca 1998; D’AmatoAvanzi & Verani 1998; Molli & Heilbronner 1999;Pinna 1999; Cantisani et al. 2000, 2003; Molli &Meccheri 2000; Pieri et al. 2001a, 2001b; Bruschiet al. 2003; Buffoni & Giannetti 2003; Leiss &Molli 2003; Molli & Vaselli 2006; Grelk et al.2007; Meccheri et al. 2007; Schouenborg et al.2007; Regione Toscana, Toscana Promozione, Min-istero Sviluppo Economico, I.C.E. 2010.

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carrara marble: a nomination for ‘global heritage stone...

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