Carrara Community Quarry

At the extreme northern border of Tuscany, the marble caves of Carrara are a place beyond words. A place that smells of mountains and sea, where the huge steps generated by human activity create a metaphysical, almost immaterial landscape, made up of voids and geometries that follow the slope of the mountains, sculpting immaculate amphitheaters overlooking the sea. A context that is characterized by a very ancient tradition - the mining activity was present in remote times - became popular in 50 b.C, under the domain of Giulio Cesare. The blocks that have been used to realize most of the public buildings in Rome and numerous patrician residences arrived from the harbor of Luni. The caves have abandoned during the Barbarian invasions that stopped the anthropic activity on the Alpi Apuane, and started to be used again for the work realized during the Medieval Cristian Age, thanks to the great masters, such as Nicola e Giovanni Pisano. These paths have been visited also by Michelangelo, who - according to tradition - used to go to the cave to personally select the blocks to realize his works that are now considered part of World Heritage: some examples are "Il David" and " La Pietà". Recently the object of a more widespread reflection concerning the definition of sustainability paradigms in relation to ever-growing mining activity, marble caves are a place that has spanned the centuries, and which more and more will need to define its role and meaning in the future.