Carrara: a journey through the millenary history of marble

A journey into the millennial history of marble conducted by Laura and Valentina Ciarallo the two famous bloggers of “Sorelle su Marte”.

Laura, professional journalist, since 1996 in the editorial staff of Tg5, currently Deputy Editor of Economy, graduated in Piano at the Conservatory, graduated in Literature with a musical address.

Valentina, art historian, for over twenty years in the field of contemporary art, curator of experimental projects and supporter of young art. Graduated in Letters with historical-artistic address. Lecturer in contemporary art history at IED Rome.

A visit to the quarries of Carrara, the largest marble basin in the world, has great evocative power. To imagine that for two thousand years, uninterruptedly, man, challenging an impervious but also very generous nature, has continued to cut through the mountains to extract blocks of white marble and transform them into works of art or luxurious coverings that adorn churches and imperial residences, has an ancestral significance.

A journey to the origins of the world, a journey that tells of the immense effort of men, the love for the material, the artistic genius of those who shape it and transform it into works that remain in history. The idea of an in-depth visit to Carrara was born precisely from this. Many times I happened to cross the Apuan Alps, so majestic and bursting with their ridges so white that they seem covered in snow. Those gullies are actually the dozens of active quarries, there are at least 80 of them, that since the time of the ancient Romans, discoverers of the marble basin, have been extracting the shiny stone (from the Latin marmoris) known in every corner of the planet.

Unmissable stop at Cava Gioia, to admire the David of Eduardo Kobra.

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