Carrara - Marble Quarries

Every tourist should visit the marble quarries in the three valleys which meet at Carrara, the Colonnata, Fantiscritti and Ravaccione valleys. They can be reached on reasonably good roads. The quarries were already being worked in Roman times, but achieved their widest fame through Michelangelo, who greatly prized the marble of Carrara. Particularly impressive are the quarries at Piastre (4km/2.5mi east), which yield the fine marmo statuario. The marble is shipped from the nearby Mediterranean ports (Marina di Carrara, e.g.) to places all over the world.