Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ at Books Editorial Committee on May 19, 2017 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 the collective memory and in ordinary people, is here nominated as a suitable ‘Global Heritage Stone Resource’. Quarried since pre-Roman times, the Carrara marble is the testimonial of an area/industry that was able – for a variety of reasons not easily repeatable in future stone history – from the dawn of the stone sector, to trigger a flywheel effect on a global scale. Suitable for any environment and cultural context, this versatile marble has been appreciated in almost any field of application – from building to architecture, from fine arts to urban landscape, from funerary art to modern 3D design – probably reaching its highest point in the eternal works of famous sculpturers, artists and architects such as Michelangelo, Donatello, Jacopo Della Quercia, Canova, Bernini, and many others. It is currently excavated in more than 100 quarries, processed almost everywhere and sold all over the world. Carrara Marble takes its name from the Italian city erroneously used for a long time to define a multi- of Carrara where it has been quarried for more tude of different marbles (more than one hundred than 2000 years and is still being quarried to this commercial varieties) extracted in the whole Apuan day at a rate of about 1 500 000 tons per year. It Alps region. Such misleading usage, substantially was during Roman times that the marble started to justified by the long history of all the marbles pro- be extracted in great quantities as it became the duced in the Apuan Alps region and by their com- material of choice for public buildings across the mercial impact, can generate misunderstandings, Roman Empire. since it is often believed to define a single commer- We are not far from the truth if we state that in cial variety. the collective memory, in ordinary people or in any It would therefore be more correct to deal with technical office not devoted expressly to stone, Apuan Alps marbles, the most famous of which is marble is automatically associated with the word the Carrara Marble sensu stricto. Carrara. Indisputably, for decades and decades, there has been this word association: marble means Formal name for this proposed ‘global Carrara and Carrara means marble. In few other heritage stone resource’ commodity sectors is a word so automatically asso- ciated with a name, engendering an identification ‘Carrara Marble’. process that, despite the inexorable onslaught of glo- balization, continues to exist. Origin of name The Carrara district is an area/industry that was able – for a variety of reasons not easily repeatable The name ‘Carrara Marble’ takes its origin from in future stone history – from the dawn of the stone Carrara, a small town located at the foot of the sector to trigger a flywheel effect on a global scale. Apuan Alps, Massa province, Northwest Tuscany The district is part of a wider territory – the Apuan region, Italy. Alps region, northwestern Tuscany, Italy – where five important extraction areas for marble produc- Geological name tion can be recognized; Lunigiana area, Garfagnana area, Versilia area, Massa area and the Carrara area Marbles and dolomitic marbles (the ‘Carrara sensu stricto. This region is approximately 30 km Marbles’). long and 12 km wide with marble outcrops useful 2 for commercial purposes covering over 75 km . Other names The term Carrara Marble, geographically refer- ring to the marbles extracted in the surroundings In local usage the term ‘Apuan Alps marbles’ indi- of the town of Carrara, is in reality a general one, 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 Heritage Stone: 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 Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ at Books Editorial Committee on May 19, 2017 138 P. PRIMAVORI whole Apuan Alps area while ‘Carrara marble’ characteristics of a very restricted area or just one stands for the Liassic marbles mainly located in quarry, or even one limited period of time. The the northwestern Apuan Alps area in the surround- most relevant characteristics of the seven main ings of the town of Carrara. varieties are summarized below. (1) ‘Marmo Bianco Carrara (White Carrara Commercial designations marble): ‘White Carrara’(Fig. 1a) is one of Contrary to what might be thought to be the the classical Carrara marbles. It is a fine- to so-called Carrara Marble, which is often identified mid-coarse-grained marble, more or less merely as white marble or as the very famous Statu- homogeneously pearl-white coloured or with ary by the non-experts in the field, Carrara Marble tiny grey spots and thin, short veins irregularly comprises a wide variety of types of marble with distributed. Its dominant characteristic is that different chromatic and structural characteristics. it contains only a very limited number of im- Quantitatively and industrially most important, the purities in the form of micro-cryptocrystalline Marble sensu stricto formation offers some com- pyrite. The three main varieties of White Car- mercial types that are clearly defined for the entire rara are classed according to the colour of the extension of this formation all over the Apuan groundmass and are known as C, C/D and Alps. Such commercial types are seven, and are D. The C variety has a very light groundmass the following: with an even vein pattern that is not very marked. C/D varieties have a regular ground- (1) ‘Marmo Bianco Carrara’ (White Carrara mass but not as white as the C variety, whereas marble); the D variety also has a regular pattern but a (2) ‘Marmo Venato’ (Veined marble); darker, white-greyish groundmass. (3) ‘Marmo Bardiglio’ (Bardiglio marble); In many places, these varieties are almost (4) ‘Marmo Nuvolato’ (Cloud-like marble); identical (with respect to colour and decora- (5) ‘Marmo Arabescato’ (Arabesque-like marble); tion) to the ‘Marmo Venato’ (see 2 below), (6) ‘Marmo Statuario’/‘Statuario Venato’ (Statu- hence it is often difficult to draw a valid ary marble/Veined statuary); boundary in-between. One particular variety (7) ‘Marmo Calacata’ (Calacata marble). is Bianco P, quarried in the Massa basin These can be subdivided into many other types (see Principal Location of Quarries). This is due to slight chromatic variations, which are often a very sought-after material due to its Fig. 1. The main commercial varieties of the Apuan Alps marble. Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ at Books Editorial Committee on May 19, 2017 CARRARA MARBLE: A NOMINATION 139 compactness and homogeneous, veinless and medium-grained grey marble crossed by almost completely white colour. numerous, more or less marked, light grey to Traditionally White Carrara is cut against whitish veins and irregular strips. This vari- the grain (the hard way) or, less frequently, ety often includes more homogeneous grey with the grain (the easy way). It is quarried bodies or metabreccia lenses, respectively in all the Carrara basins except Pescina- resembling the ‘Bardiglio’ and ‘Arabescato’ Boccanaglia (see Principal Location of Quar- types (see 5 below). ries). In the other Apuan quarry sites, white (5) ‘Marmo Arabescato’ (Arabesque-like mar- marble with similar characteristics to White ble): These are meta-breccias (Fig. 1e) with Carrara tends to be called by local names, predominant clasts and boulders of white-to- often corresponding to the place where it is grey marbles in a minor, more or less dark quarried. grey carbonate matrix; the fragments mainly (2) ‘Marmo Venato’ (Veined marble): This is a derive from White Carrara, Veined and mid-grained, pearl-white to light grey marble ‘Nuvolato/Bardiglio’ types. An appreciated (Fig. 1b) with a fairly regular network of sub-variety is the ‘Marmo Brouille´,’ quarried more or less dark grey veins (centimetre to mainly in the Colonnata basin (see Principal millimetre in width). On the whole, this vari- Location of Quarries), is characterized by ety comprises many sub types whose aspect well-marked grey matrix in veins thicker and and structure range from an unreworked meta- more persistent than in the normal ‘Arabes- breccia to almost regular compositional alter- cati.’ The name of this family comes from nations. Like White Carrara, this variety can the geometric patterns typical of Islamic art. be classed either as C, C/D or D. Some types Traditionally this variety is mainly cut come from the Carrara area sensu stricto (see against the grain (the hard way), or parallel Principal Location of Quarries) mainly from to the grain (the easy way), so as to highlight Gioia basin, while other varieties are quarried the material’s decorative qualities. in the areas of Massa, Fivizzano and Minuc- It is quarried mostly in the Versilia area but ciano (see Principal Location of Quarries). It is also found in the Garfagnana and Massa is one of the most common varieties through- areas and to a lesser extent in the Carrara out the Apuan Alps. area (see Principal Location of Quarries). Traditionally Venato materials are cut (6) ‘Marmo Statuario’/‘Statuario Venato’ against the grain (the hard way) or perpen- (Statuary marble/Veined Statuary): This dicular to the grain (the easy way) depending is very pure coarse-grained marble (Fig.