Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Many first-time visitors assume the white mountain peaks forming Carrara's backdrop are
capped with snow. In fact, the vista provides a breathtaking illusion - the white is 2000
hectares of marble gouged out of the foothills of the Apuane Alps in vast quarries that
have been worked since Roman times.
The texture and purity of Carrara's white marble (derived from the Greek
marmaros,
meaning shining stone) is unrivalled and it was here that Michelangelo selected marble for
masterpieces including
David
(actually sculpted from a dud veined block). Today it's a
multi-billion-euro industry.
The quarries, 5km out of town, have long been the area's biggest employers. It's hard,
dangerous work and on Carrara's central Piazza XXVII Aprile a monument remembers
workers who lost their lives up on the hills. These tough men formed the backbone of a
strong leftist and anarchist tradition in Carrara, something that won them no friends
among the Fascists or, later, the occupying German forces.
Bar the thrill of seeing its mosaic marble pavements, marble street benches, decorative
marble putti and marble everything else, the old centre of Carrara doesn't offer much for
the visitor. The exception is July to October in even years, when Carrara stages a wonder-
