Marble, H. 146 cm (57 1/2 in.). Walter realizes how much the job has changed even compared to his own father. In 1515 Michelangelo had in fact taken up residence in Carrara and even founded a company with Leonardo Cagione, a quarryman, to excavate and earn on supplies of marble to the commissioners.The company was fortunate until the quarrelsome minds reached irreparable disagreements regarding delivery times. Tours are 50 minutes and can be taken in Italian, English, or French. Fantiscritti Marble Quarries, or cave (pronounced cah-vey), has a 50 minute 4x4 jeep tour that gives visitors a chance to get an inside look at the quarries and also includes a fantastic view from high above them. Carrara marble quarries - Credit: MitchellShapiroPhotography Territorial development is strictly linked to the marble industry and specifically to the transformation process of this material into manufactures for the buildings, street furniture, architecture and artistic fields. From 20,000 men working the Carrara quarries in inhumane conditions about 60 years ago, today barely 500 men extract more marble than ever in the Carrara region, well paid and working in a high-profit industry. Carrara Marble Tour takes you on a fascinating ride through the quarries for a close look at the marble cliffs and mines. Very near the marble quarries is the picturesque mining town of Colonnata, famous for producing lardo. In order to skip the two-hour hike just to get to the quarry, some men, the capannari, became guardians at night, hence living onsite with all their family. Even Donatello, Bernini and Canova have always been fascinated by this precious typical material of Carrara. It took one to two years to extract and take down one piece of marble. According to the excavators, there is enough marble for at least another 500 years as it continues deep down in the earth, up to two kilometres below sea level. Michelangelo itself used to go up to the Altissimo mountain (1589 meters) to take the marble to sculpt and create its works. The marble dust is highly concentrated in carbon carbonate and is widely used in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food industry for calcium. Its resistance to wear and tear makes it ideal for floors, interior cladding or stairs. A rather soft stone, it is also easy to ornate and has been a sculptor’s favourite for ages. Especially when visiting Florence with its David or Pietà by Michelangelo, or other masterpieces by Arnolfo, Donatello, Pisano and more, realizing all the work and risks involved before art actually starts is extremely humbling. Then, two holes are drilled into the block to form an L-shaped channel into which the diamond wire is inserted. The deep connection between Carrara and its marble comes from long ago, going back to the origins of the town itself. Discovering the Carrara marble quarries has given a completely new dimension to our way of appreciating stone sculptures. The Roman slaves used techniques that had remained for thousands of years for extraction and transport. Colonnata is a good place to eat with several restaurant choices. The peaks eventually reveal their true nature: the open quarries of white Carrara marble. The famous marble of Carrara has been quarried since Roman times and has long been a favorite of sculptors, including Michelangelo. The asphalt ends. No more than 7 to 8 centimetres per day would be cut. Tuscany is one of the Italian regions better known for its excellent craftsmanship. A mixture of water and silica sand was constantly poured into the block to allow for block cutting under the action of the blade. Massive 350-ton marble blocks are extracted and then divided into 35-ton blocks taken down by heavy trucks to the seaside in 45 minutes. More specifically, limestone constituted mostly by calcium carbonate crystals undergoes a second crystallization because of high pressure and temperature caused by the movement of the tectonic plates when the Apuan Mountains were formed. A 3-4 hour option includes pick-up and drop-off from your nearby hotel, time to tour the town of Carrara, plus a special breakfast of local specialties, including lardo di Colonnata, which is seasoned pork fat. As a result, the David kept in Florence and the Pietà in San Pietro in Rome, were born. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Fantiscritti Marble Quarries, or cave (pronounced cah-vey), has a 50 minute 4x4 jeep tour that gives visitors a chance to get an inside look at the quarries and also includes a fantastic view from high above them. We are heading to Quarry number 83 Canalgrande Alto, at an altitude of almost 1,000 meters above sea level. Rotated at high speeds, it realizes the cut. ( Log Out /  view from Carrara Quarry Colonnata, and “Lardo”on our Private Tour in Tuscany. Territorial development is strictly linked to the marble industry and specifically to the transformation process of this material into manufactures for the buildings, street furniture, architecture and artistic fields. To visit the Carrara marble quarries, get in touch with. Basically, limestone is transformed in marble under high temperature & pressure. The Greeks were already using marble as construction material as it can withstand compression, and as such is ideal to create columns for instance. Stuga hopping along the Höga Kusten, Sweden, Temple hopping in Kyoto: top 10 & travel tips, Traditional crafts of Cambodia (2/7): Water jars, Battambang, The falaj of Misfat, one of the most charming villages of Oman. The operating quarries today are in the three large extraction basins in Colonnata, Ravaccione e Fantiscritti, behind Carrara and facing the slopes of Maggiore mountain. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! First, the bottom cut of the block is made by a giant chainsaw in about a day. ( Log Out /  For several millennia, marble workers had been operating in the thin white dust to the sound of hammers, saws, screams and bells ringing the accidents. A few kilometres further, past the Ponti di Vara (Vara Bridge), we let some trucks, loaded with 35-ton blocks of marble, pass as they are heading down to the coast for the stones to be shipped. Thinking about the tons of marble used all over the world for millennia, between the slope quarries, the pit quarries and the underground ones of which we only see the entrances, we are surprised that there are still mountains standing here! If you're in the Carrara area of northern Tuscany, don't miss this experience. The road has turned into a one-way used mostly by heavy trucks rushing up to the quarries. The Calacata Borghini quarry, one of the oldest in Carrara, in the heart of the Apuan Alps. With the industrial revolution, mechanical techniques were introduced to extract the marble. English: marble quarry in the Alpi Apuane of the Province of Massa-Carrara… The operation has to be repeated another two times to disconnect the block from the quarry and it takes about 2 days for each side. A pile of rubble cushions the blocks as it gets softly separated from the mountain. Collaboration opportunities and storytelling projects. In the distance, the white of the statuario marble or the highest quality of pure white marble used by sculptors such as Michelangelo and found only in the Fantiscritti quarries denotes compared to the closer grey marble. The conditions were very basic and cold and far from schools, the capannari were sentencing their kids to a similar lifestyle. Colonnata is a tiny village only few kilometres far from Carrara. In the middle of the bright white gold, yellow and red heavy earthmoving machines that look like toys amongst the monumental quarries extract the marble with breath-taking views over the entire Apuan Alps and the Ligurian Sea. Your guide will explain the history and uses of marble, the different types of marble, and how the quarries operate. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 121) Among the many treasures that will be on view in Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer are three sculptures the artist carved in marble from Carrara, including the monumental, unfinished Apollo-David. You'll see a working section of the mine, as well as the site where several Austin Martin's went over the cliff during the filming of the James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. Then, iron wedges were inserted inside the block cracks with hammers. At the parking area of the quarry are a museum, gift shop, restaurant, and restrooms. Too damaging, they were abandoned and only used to open new quarries. Marble also facilitates the engineering industry as regards the production of innovative machineries to excavate and produce the granite. The interesting and scenic 50-minute tour is offered daily from March to November and is priced at 12 euros (as of 2019). This tour is currently priced at 65 euros per person. Another two were rotating the beams from the back to the front. Today, synthetic diamond wires are used. In the end of the 18th century, explosives were introduced. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. From the Italian coastal road linking Genoa to Lucca, in a 30°C heat, the 1,000-meter (3,000 feet) high peaks of the Apuan Alps seem covered in snow. Carrara is in the part of northern Tuscany known as Versilia that includes the three main towns of Carrara, Massa, and Pietrasanta and a long stretch of coast where you'll find beaches and the seaside resort town of Viareggio, famous for its carnival parades. provides a very interesting insight into the lives of the quarrymen and children. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Here is a, Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), How to decode Italy’s best Renaissance museum: the Uffizi [Florence], Follow Best regards from far, on WordPress.com, The crafts behind the masterpieces of Florence. You just need to look up and see the uncovered mountains of the Apuan Alps: it’s there the origin of statues, monuments and buildings. 5 insider's fun facts about Strasbourg that you probably did not know about! This technique was used until 1966 when it took about two weeks to transport a block of marble along the 16 kilometres separating the quarries from the sea. Text: Claire LessiauPhotographs: Marcella van Alphen. We park the car to hop on a four-wheel drive Land Rover Defender. When did the Carrara marble become fashionable? Tuscany Off the Beaten Path Away from Tourist Crowds, Your Trip to Florence: The Complete Guide, Pietrasanta: City of Artists in Northern Tuscany, These Are the Top 15 Destinations in Chile, The Complete Guide to the Grotto in Portland, The 10 Best Day Trips from Naples by Train or Ferry, Visit Puccini's Lake, Villa, and Outdoor Music Festival, Your Trip to the Amalfi Coast: The Complete Guide, Where to Go on the Italian Riviera Between Genoa and Tuscany, Lucca Day Trips: Villas, Towns, Spas, and the Leaning Tower, Jeep Tour of Carrara Marble Quarries in Tuscany. ... A treasure trove of secrets, events, curiosities and news, straight to your inbox, Useful tools and information to help plan your holiday, Salvador Dalì in Siena: from Galileo Galilei to Surrealism, Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo of Florence, Cascate del Mulino hot springs in Saturnia, From cities of art to snow-capped summits, Tastes and traditions along the Apuan Alps bread route, A three-day walk along the Via Francigena in northern Tuscany, The Riviera Apuana: 5 days in the Alps and by the sea. The first ones to extract marble in Carrara were the Romans: marble had become fashionable to imitate the Greeks to decorate their rich villas and their most majestic monuments in Rome. From the Greek word marmaros that means shiny stone, marble has remained a noble material over the centuries. Percussion tools were used to extract the primary block. Carrara is world-famous for its white marble, pure and without veining. Walter Danesi stands proudly by the marble sculpture of his grand father who started an open-air museum to pay a tribute to all these quarrymen. It is located closed to the marble quarries and during the centuries the quarrymen and their families used to live here. Fantiscritti is the most famous of the ex-Roman city of Luni as attested by many remains found there.

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