Tuši's blog: 15936

Monday, January 02, 2023

15936

Italy: Marble Quarries of Colonnata

For the New Year vacation, Nada, Bronco and me decided to have a trip to Tuscany, Italy. It was our last day, so we left our beautiful home and started driving back to Slovenia. On our way we stopped in Colonnata, where we saw some big marble quarries and then we crossed the Apennines and we headed back home.

Our previous days in Tuscany: Day 8 - 15935, Day 7 - 15934, Day 6 - 15933, Day 5 - 15932, Day 4 - 15931, Day 3 - 15930, Day 2 - 15929 and Day 1 - 15928.

Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa and Carrara in the Lunigiana, the northernmost tip of modern-day Tuscany.

The Apuan Alps above Carrara show evidence of at least 650 quarry sites, with about half of them currently abandoned or worked out.

Nada's new hobby - statue maker.

The prize yield from Carrara quarries through millennia has been statuario, a pure white marble (coloring in other marbles arises from intermixture with other minerals present in the limestone as it is converted to marble by heat or pressure). However, by the end of the 20th century, the known deposits of statuario near Carrara were played out.

Fosdinovo and Castello Malaspina.

Left: The construction of the imposing fortress in Fosdinovo, which blends perfectly with the sandstone rock, began in the second half of the 12th century. Right: Nearby village Tendola.