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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A Carraran marble quarry. Carrara marble (sometimes mistakenly "Carrera marble") is a type of white or blue-grey marble of high quality, popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It is quarried at the city of Carrara in the province of Massa and Carrara in the Lunigiana, the northernmost tip of modern-day Tuscany, Italy.   History Carrara marble has been used since the time of Ancient Rome. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the marble quarries were monitored by the Cybo and Malaspina families who ruled over Massa and Carrara. The family created the Office of Marble in 1564 to regulate the marble mining industry. The city of Massa, in particular, saw much of its plan redesigned (new roads, plazas, intersections, pavings) in order to make it worthy of an Italian country's capital. Following the extinction of the Cybo-Malaspina family, the state was ruled by the House of Austria and management of the mines rested with them. The Basilica of Massa is built entirely of Carrara marble and the old Ducal Palace of Massa was used to showcase the precious stone. At the end of the 19th century, Carrara became the cradle of anarchism in Italy, in particular among the quarry workers. According to a New York Times article of 1894, workers in the marble quarries were among the most neglected labourers in Italy. Many of them were ex-convicts or fugitives from justice. The work at the quarries was so tough and arduous that almost any aspirant worker with sufficient muscle and endurance was employed, regardless of their background. The quarry workers and stone carvers had radical beliefs that set them apart from others. Anarchism and general radicalism became part of the heritage of the stone carvers. Many violent revolutionists who had been expelled from Belgium and Switzerland went to Carrara in 1885 and founded the first anarchist group in Italy. In Carrara, the anarchist Galileo Palla remarked, “even the stones are anarchists.” The quarry workers were the main protagonists of the Lunigiana revolt in January 1894. Notable monuments and buildings Birmingham's King Edward VII Memorial is made from a large piece of Carrara marble The marble from Carrara was used for some of the most remarkable buildings in Ancient Rome, such as the Pantheon and Trajan's Column in Rome. Many sculptures of theRenaissance, such as Michelangelo's David (1501–04), were carved from Carrara marble. For Michelangelo at least, Carrara marble was valued above all other stone, except perhaps that of his own quarry in Pietrasanta. The statue to Robert Burns which commands a central position in Dumfries was carved in Carrara by Italian craftsmen working to Amelia Paton Hill's model. It was unveiled by future UK Prime Minister, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery on 6 April 1882. Marble Arch, London Duomo di Siena, Siena, Italy Sarcophagus of St. Hedwig, Queen of Poland, Cracow, Poland Manila Cathedral (interior), Manila, Philippines First Canadian Place, Toronto, Canada Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi, UAE Harvard Medical School buildings, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Oslo Opera House, Oslo, Norway Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial (Crosses and Stars of David), Normandy, France Peace Monument, Washington, DC, USA King Edward VII Memorial, Birmingham, UK Akshardham, Delhi Aon Center (Chicago) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Robba Fountain, Ljubljana, Slovenia Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, Finland Devon Tower, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

Felix Petrelli | Friday, February 21, 2014 - 09:00  When driving along the west coast of Tuscany just north of Pisa, you will see jagged alps rising steeply from the narrow strip of land, glistening majestically. These are the Alpi Apuane, or Apuan Alps, mountains that gleam as though cloaked with snow all year round. But the pristine white is not snow, it is the marble of the bare quarried faces of the mountains – the snow the gods made eternal. The effect is so surreal it would not be out of place in a mural in an Indian restaurant, but this breathtaking view belies a multi-million euro a year industry and the source of some of the most famous sculptures in the world – including Michelangelo’s Pietà and David. The marble quarries of Carrara are situated in the valleys of Torano, Miseglia, Bedisano and Colonnata, where both white and coloured marbles are found: the amount of marble is staggering. From raw cut blocks waiting for export, rows of flawless reproductions of Michelangelo’s David, to the marble-clad centre of Carrara, it is clear that marble is the main protagonist of this area. Driving further up into the mountains around hairpin turns through the lush green forest does nothing to prepare you for the number and scale of the marble quarries that were first opened up by the Romans more than 2000 years ago.   Ancient Roots Written records dated to 177 BC describe Romans who were sent to the colony of Luni with a full complement of slaves to extract the marble and ship it back to Rome for use in palaces and monuments – all engraved with A.U.PH. (ad usum phori – for use in the Forums) to avoid taxes. It was the white marble of Carrara that converted Rome from a city of brick huts to one of marble palaces. The Renaissance was boom time for Carrara. Marble was de rigueur in Florence, Venice and Rome, and there was plenty of money being invested in art. Michelangelo travelled to the Alpi Apuane to choose his marble, and eventually to open up rival quarries to those of Carrara for his patrons the Medici. Michelangelo worked in the Serra gorge, favouring the whitest, most finely veined marble and he dreamed of carving the figure of a giant out of 5000 ft Monte Sagro. By the 14th century, mining methods had not changed much from the times of the Romans. Stonecutters climbed for miles up the vertiginous peaks in squads to drill holes in the rock into which they drove wooden stakes. They then wet the wood, which expanded and split off huge blocks of marble. The marble blocks, up to 40 tons each, were then slid down the mountain on logs with oxen, a technique called ‘Lizzatura’. Gunpowder was introduced in 1570 by the Marquis Malaspina, ruler of Carrara. However, this proved to be too destructive, reducing too much of the precious marble to dust, the legacy of which are the cascades of rubble that seem like snow from afar. The Price of Progress Today massive bulldozers and high-speed, diamond-edged cutting equipment mean greater efficiency of quarrying and better working conditions, but the effects on the landscape are notable. The quarries look like half finished ziggurats, with Escher–like inverted ledges, sheer drops and chambers. There are entire peaks that have been cut in half. ‘The landscape and the shape of these mountains have changed in my lifetime and are still changing’, Mario (40), a former stonecutter of Colonnata, told me. ‘I’m relatively young, but I’ve noticed that the winds in Colonnata have changed as well.’ Mario owns a small restaurant-café in Colonnata and in his spare time organises guided trekking trips on the mountains and visits to marble quarries. ‘I was born here and I worked in these quarries for more than four years. Then I stopped.It was too hard. But I love to take tourists around the abandoned quarries and explain what the job is about. I love to see the amazement in their faces when I say that the marble is cut with metal cables of tiny diamonds,’ he adds. A question does enter your mind as you take in the devastating effects of 2000 years of mining: Just how long can the marble of Carrara last? But marble is not the only precious product of the area. A curious spin-off the marble industry is the delicacy Lardo di Colonnata. Lardo was the traditional high-energy food of the workers in the quarries. There are many similarities between marble and lardo: lardo has the pearly white appearance of marble, it is quite expensive and, in Italy, quite sought after. Fat of the Land As you might imagine from the name, lardo is pure pork fat. But it’s not just any old bacon – it is pork back-fat, cut into strips and laid into chests of marble called conche with sea salt, garlic, black pepper, and a mix of other spices, including sage, rosemary, cinnamon, cloves and coriander. The combination of spices varies between the producers, or larderie, who guard their recipes jealously. The lard is then aged in the conche for six to ten months. I was lucky enough to happen on the annual Sagra del Lardo di Colonnata, held each year in the charming tiny mountain village that is home to only 300 inhabitants. Seated in a tiny square next to an exquisite marble doorway that had ‘1790’ inscribed above it, I ordered the Menu degli Scavatori (Miners’ Menu), to the strains of opera wafting from a neighbour’s window. The menu was, as promised, simple: raw tomatoes, a basket of very slightly toasted bread, and a platter of transparent, thinner-than-wafer-thin (we are talking microns here) slices of Lardo di Colonnata. I asked the very healthy-looking, slim waitress if she ate the lardo often. She assured me that she did. On closer enquiry, she revealed that because the lardo is aged in marble containers, the calcium carbonate drew out some of the saturated fats. This was repeated to me by a number of people in Colonnata, but I’m not sure I believe it. The lardo, however, was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious - salty with just discernable traces of cinnamon. At the end of my ‘menu degli scavatori’ I did feel as though a day in the quarries chipping at that eternal snow just might do me some good. Information: Sagra del Lardo di Colonnata - Colonnata, Massa Carrara, Tuscany: last weekend of August every year. - See more at: http://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/visiting-carrara-marble-quarries-apuan-alps-eternal-snow#sthash.AAeYHacl.dpuf