Carrara | Marble

Car­rara and mar­ble go together like the Cay­man Islands and dodgy hedge funds, but vir­tu­ously. The Ancient Romans began seri­ously quar­ry­ing here, bewitched by the immac­u­late white or beautifully-veined rock, and used it to build and dec­o­rate their finest pub­lic build­ings and pri­vate houses. Dur­ing the Renais­sance, Michelan­gelo tramped up here, and more recently Henry Moore, both seek­ing the per­fect block from which to sculpt a time­less masterpiece.

The Polvac­cio quarry was first exploited in the 1^st cen­tury BCE, and its beau­ti­ful mar­ble admired and exported around the Mediter­ranean. Today it’s owned by the Cave Michelan­gelo group, still exca­vat­ing to sup­ply the finest stone for stat­u­ary and archi­tec­ture. Cave Michelan­gelo has its own state-of-the-art work­shop, Studi d’Arte Cave Michelan­gelo, where young tal­ents are trained work­ing side-by-side with past mas­ters on sculp­tures, archi­tec­tural and inte­rior design projects, and in restora­tion. Estab­lished artists come here too, to choose and chip away at awe-inspiring hunks of rock.

The white mar­ble tops of the Apuan Alps around Car­rara are vis­i­ble from miles away, but see­ing the work­ings close-up obvi­ously requires orga­ni­za­tion and cer­tain safety mea­sures. Fas­ci­nat­ing tours in off-road vehi­cles can be arranged through Cave di Marmo Tours, among others.

Any quarry tour will take in Colon­nata. Tra­di­tion­ally home of the best quar­ri­ers, it’s a tiny vil­lage some 7 km above Car­rara, prob­a­bly pop­u­lated by slaves who worked the quar­ries in Roman times. It’s now renowned as the home of the best quar­ri­ers’ lunch, Lardo di Colon­nata, an exquis­itely deli­cious cold cut made from slices of pork back fat lay­ered with salt, pep­per, gar­lic and herbs and cured in a cov­ered mar­ble basin for 6 to 10 months. Ignore any recipes you may come across: to enjoy it at its best, just lay a paper-thin slice on fresh bread still warm from a light toast­ing. Another mar­ble marvel.

Studi d’Arte Cave Michelangelo

Via Piave 32

54033 Car­rara (MS)

+39 0585 842496

info@studidarte.com

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