Carrara Marble Mines

Where is carrara.

Carrara marble mines.

While planning a recent trip to tuscany i decided that it was high time to visit the area of carrara and its famous marble mines. The carrara marble as other types of marble is a metamorphic rock made from microscopically small calcium carbonate crystals. Touring the marble mines in the apuan alps in northern tuscany is an incredible visual experience which is why the location was chosen for the chase scene in the james bond film quantum of solace. The family created the office of marble in 1564 to regulate the marble mining industry.

Interior of the carrara cathedral. For anyone interested in adventure or the art of marble cutting a visit to the carrara mable mines becomes a fantastic and unusual outing and is highly recommended. It s all understandable carrara is worldwide famous for its white marble but much less popular as a tourist destination. Visit the marble quarries of carrara on a half day tour from colonnata that highlights the marble industry in italy.

Carrara marble has been used since the time of ancient rome and it was called the luni marble. Carrara is located by the sea along the coast of northern tuscany across the boundary of tuscany and liguria traveling on the a12 motorway between viareggio and la spezia you note the marble quarries that stretch for about 3 km on the side of the apuan alps. You can tour some of the marble mines above carrara in a self guided car tour but to get as high into the apuan alps as we did in the picture you ll need to take a jeep tour. Carrara marble block price.

During the renaissance marble quarried in carrara was used by michelangelo who visited the caves to personally choose blocks for his artworks. In carrara producing and selling marble is the way of life. Marble maintains the local economy. Historically the transport of the blocks along the steep rocky slopes of the quarries was a very risky activity which engaged workers with increasingly more evolved methods as the economic and social conditions of the region evolved.

A brief history the apuan alps are characterized by the presence of an immense vein of marble which is famous the world over and whose mining some historians argue dates back to 155 bc.