Carrara Marble Mountains

Carrara Marble Mountains, their Quarries and the Men that dedicate their lives excavating this precious white stone.

If you happen to find yourself lying on one of the beautiful beaches along the Versilian coast in northern Tuscany, it would be impossible not to admire the majestic Apuan Alps. It would be easy to think that the stark white surfaces on the upper heights is snow, and many have made this mistake – logic not creating sense despite the scorching Summer temperatures on the beach.  It is indeed remarkable to think that this is the origin of some of the most beautiful marble finishes that decorate churches, cathedrals, famous marble sculptures or quite simply the marble that is sitting in kitchens and bathrooms all around the world.  The name ‘White Carrara Marble’ has become like a brand, synonymous with high end luxury décor, buildings and furnishings.

White Carrara marble has maintained its prestige for thousands of years, and it was two thousand yeas ago that the ancient Romans first removed the layer of trees and grassy carpet that dressed the mountains to reveal the precious white stone that lay underneath.  The Romans took possession of Carrara and its surroundings (once named Luni) and the Alps in 180 BC after winning the territory from a Celtic population that had settled in the area since 9 B.C. Carrara marble supplied the Roman Empire for the construction of many famous monuments that tourists flock to today to admire.  The Pantheon and the Trajan’s Column in Rome are built of Carrara Marble, as is the Portico di Ottavia.  Emperor Augustus is known to have said boastingly, “I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble“.

Many sculptures of the Renaissance (Michelangelo’s David to name one) were also carved in marble from Carrara. Michelangelo is known to have visited many times during his lifetime (he lived into his 90’s) and each time he stayed in the area for at least 4-5 months to search for and find the perfect block of marble to use for his sculptures.  Michelangelo required the pure white ‘Statuario di Carrara marble’, which is characterized by its pure milk-white colour, that makes it very valuable.  The first time Michelangelo visited the Apuan Alps was when he was looking for the perfect marble to use to sculpt ‘La Pieta’ – the only piece of sculpture that Michelangelo ever signed which is now housed inside St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It is a beautiful piece of art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of her son Jesus, and something that really has to be seen when visiting Rome. After visiting the Apuan Alps repeatedly, Michelangelo fantasised about carving the whole peak of the mountain to create a sculpture so colossal, that the passing ships would be able to see it from the sea.

Statuario marble is very rare, and there is only one point today on the Apuan Alps where this prestigious type of marble is available, or where it is allowed to be excavated. This limited amount needs to satisfy the needs of the entire planet – and so this is what pushes the price up and gives this type of marble the nickname; ‘Oro Bianco’ (White Gold).    Pure white statuario marble is soft in comparison to marble that has grey or black veins running through it. The whiter the marble, the more calcium carbonate is present.  The grey veins are caused by carbon and some impurities and the more that is present, the harder the marble stone.

Once upon a time the extraction of the marble was entrusted to slavery, and their techniques remained unchanged for thousands of years. In the beginning, the miners exploited the natural fissures of the rock, and inserted wooden wedges.  These were then wet with water and the swelling, and natural expansion of the wood would cause the marble block to detach from the mountain.  The Romans used a method using metal chisels to cut blocks with a depth of about 2 meters. Metallic chisels were inserted into cuts about 20cm deep, and after much continuous hammering, the block was separated from the mountain. Then, to cut the block into smaller slabs, two men would use a large handsaw while a mixture of water and silica was poured onto the block to facilitate the cutting process. It’s incredible to think that each day only about 8cm would be cut, and it could take up to two years from extracting the marble to transporting it to the coast.

During the 18^th century, explosions were used to extract the marble but this method was aborted pretty quickly after it was realised that the damage to the Apuan Alps was great and too much waste was created.

Once the marble blocks were cut away from the mountain, another challenge lay ahead, and that was the method of transporting the marble down the mountain, to the sea port. One of the most dangerous jobs in working in the marble quarries was to be involved in the transport.  The marble blocks weighing about 30 tons had to be carefully transported down very steep slopes on a sleigh-type structure that would slide on wooden beams greased with soap. Ropes were used to try and control the marble and to resist the pull of gravity by about 10-12 men.  Two other men had the job of transferring the beams from the back to the front and you can imagine how often accidents happened and many men were killed.  Oxen were also used and the work was so strenuous for them, that often they would die along the way.  There are wonderful black and white photographs that document these powerful beasts hauling blocks of marble down to the sea port, onto the pier where they would be loaded onto ships.  

Transporting the marble down the mountain is still a very dangerous job and requires skilled driving of heavy trucks. It’s anxiety-provoking just watching these huge machines manoeuvre down the mountain and execute 3 point turns to get around some of the sharp turns. There are sprinklers operating along the roads, keeping the ground wet.  This is important to stop the trucks tyres slipping on dry gravel as they come down the mountain carrying the large marble blocks.

When one visits the Carrara marble quarries, the appreciation for the work and workers that contribute to each stage of the journey from the mountain to the finished product can be fully understood.  In the Carrara marble basin, there are three areas designated to quarries, they are the known as the Torano, Colonnata and Fantiscritti quarries. I visited the Fantiscritti quarries and they are the most famous of the once existing Roman city of Luni.  I booked a tour with ‘Carrara Marble Tour’ company and our guide Davide was a wealth of knowledge. 

Davide told of another group of men who work on the Apuan Alps who play an important and integral role alongside the work of the quarrymen. These men are required to listen to the sounds of the mountain, and to detect, and prevent danger.  They have one of the oldest and most demanding yet fascinating professions in the world. They are called the ‘tecchiaioli’, also nicknamed ‘ragni bianchi (white spiders) and they are the unsung guardian angels of the quarrymen.  They work in extreme conditions to provide safety of other workers.

They work in the Apuan marble quarries to monitor and clean the quarry front (the ‘tecchia’, in the Carrarese dialect) to eliminate any unsafe boulders, or sheets of marble that could potentially cause injuries (or death) if they were to fall on the unsuspecting quarrymen working below.  Until the 1990’s it was the same quarrymen who descended into the overhangs harnessed to a rudimentary hemp rope. Now professional rock climbers do it with the same techniques and equipment used in mountaineering and caving. They go from quarry to quarry, stopping for two or three months at a time to secure the rocky face.

The tecchiaioli move along the walls of the Apuan Alps and remain suspended for hours on the white chasms of the marble quarries. They listen to the mountain, observe it, take care of it, like hanging spiders, silently and meticulously getting the job done.

Very few know of the existence of this figure, the tecchiaiolo. Many people assume the quarrymen have the hardest jobs, but few know of the harsh and exhausting conditions which the tecchiaiolo works facing daily risk, fatigue and sometimes even fear.  Their white surroundings are the breathtaking scenery of the quarries, yet they work in the most extreme conditions and weather: heat, cold, and wind. Every day, all year round, hanging, immersed in the blinding white of the marble.  They are a tight-nit team, and the responsibility on their shoulders is great, and this means it’s also a job that causes great stress on a daily basis.

During the mining process, the shape of the mountainous peaks, and the marble facade are continuously modified and the aesthetics of the Alps can change brutally in a matter of weeks. In a few hours, walls of tens of meters can disappear and one thing that people may not consider is that extracting marble blocks from the mountain causes much wasted marble.  Sometimes the blocks shatter as they fall… and once upon a time, all this marble ‘rubble’ created problems as it accumulated in the valleys below.

Today, marble waste is utilised in many industries. The bits that have broken off, blocks that have shattered, or the cut-offs created when cutting a perfect block of marble can be made into small stones that are used for paving or they are ground to make marble dust. This dust of calcium carbonate is used in toothpaste, soaps, cosmetics, paper production, cement production, to make glue, etc. Nothing is wasted anymore.

The discovery of this ‘recycling’ has only occurred since 1980, and before that the three Carrara marble basins were submerged in 2000 years of accumulated marble waste.  This was a huge problem because it had covered areas where there was good quality marble that could be mined. This ‘problem’ has now become a valuable resource, especially if you consider that from a productive quarry, about 40% of the marble extracted becomes waste. Some quarries even have 80% of marble that becomes waste.

Seeing the quarries for the first time close up can be quite shocking – the quarries seem like a giant wound in the mountain.  We were at 1000m above sea level, but the mountains rise to about 1700m – 1800m and it’s important to realise that they are all marble. It has been calculated that the marble extends also to at least 2 km below sea level, so although it seems shocking that marble has been taken from Apuan Alps for so many years, there is still plenty of marble for at least the next 500 years.  

Two thousand years passed where there wasn’t any regulation on the number of quarries created or the amount of marble extracted.  One could cut what they wanted, use explosives and not face any consequences. Today the whole process must abide by strict laws.  Every two years, every company that manages a marble quarry must produce a plan to the region of Tuscany where they must detail exactly how many metres they plan to excavate. The environmental impact, the stability of the mountain and the estimated waste is evaluated before they receive authorisation to proceed. 

The Apuan Alps are now protected by UNESCO, (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and the regulation of mining is so strict today, there is no talk whatsoever of creating new quarries other than the ones that already exist.

If you do find yourself in northern Tuscany, take the time to visit the Carrara marble quarries and book a tour with CARRARA MARBLE TOUR company.  It will definitely make you appreciate so much more when you see white Carrara marble anywhere around the world.

**CARRARA MARBLE TOUR Tours – Carrara Marble Tour company also organise private customised tours that can include a visit to the quarries, the marble museum, followed by lunch and tasting of traditional regional recipes including experiencing the famous ‘Lardo di Colonnata’.

*This article was first published for www.italoamericano.org