debbspero

has anyone ever driven thru the marble quarries of carrara? is it worth the drive? we will be driving down the coast from milan to tuscany and are wondering what sites are worth stopping at. thanks so much!

ekscrunchy

Did you see this article in the NY Times?


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/tr...0marble&st=cse

macanimals

I am curious what route you are taking--Milan to Tuscany via Carrara? That being said we had driven by the quarries many times and were always interested. Last summer we took a daytrip from Lucca and met with Sara Paolini who was our guide for the morning. ([email protected]) We had a pleasant experience on an overcast and threatening day--visited the docks, marble cutting factory, an excellent "studio" where sculptors were working large and small pieces, the quarries themselves, an outdoor museum and much, much more. One of the obvious features of the visit was the understanding of the road system and the movement of the heavily laden trucks--I was glad I wasn't doing my usual poking around to see which road works--its a system of one-way and no way roads with a network of quarries.
We ended the day with a lunch in Colonnata--very satisfying.

I would think you could do it on your own and would aim for one of the "outdoor museums" up on the mountain. Of course you will not learn as much about the history and challenges to the present industry without a guide,but it would still be interesting. Be careful of the truck traffic!
Paul

jubilada

I last did this in 1992, but found it fascinating and brought home very well priced marble treasures.

nochblad

You may decide not to visit the quarries but do but do try the lardo di colonnata. It is truly devine.

FlyFish

We visited the quarries back in July of this year. It's an interesting drive up into the hills where the quarries are located - at times we were sure that we'd ventured off the route and were on some sort of private truck road, only to find another sign after coming out of a tunnel or rounding the next bend.

We followed signs to, and took, the Cave di Marmo tour at the Fantiscritti quarries (http://www.marmotour.com/index-english.html) and thought it was well worth it. This is an underground quarry - more like a mine of sorts - in the heart of a mountain. The tour starts with a long drive (in the tour operator's van) down an abandoned train tunnel, eventually opening into a huge interior space where they're mining blocks up to 60 or 70 feet long. It was also rather nice and cool on a day when the temperature outside was somewhere around 95 degrees, and just about worth it for that alone.

FlyFish

Just noticed that the closing parenthesis got picked up as part of the URL I posted, so the link won't work simply by clicking on it. If you delete the parenthesis it'll work OK.

debbspero

thanks so much- i think we will def go for it! it is def not the fastest way to tuscany from milan, but we were interested in a detour that would make the long drive more interesting and fun. we are of course open to other suggestions!

YvonneT

There's a very lovely town between Carrara and Pisa .. Pietrasanta. Michelangelo sourced some of his marble there. There is so much public art scattered through the town.

Here are some images to check out:

http://tinyurl.com/27yg8zl

And a little information:

http://www.italythisway.com/places/pietrasanta.php

ekscrunchy

This is piquing my interest!

Macanimals, would you mind, please, adding Sara's name to this thread about guides in Italy?

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...aster-list.cfm

macanimals

ekscrunchy--done!

Ooops!--Sara's email had a typo- [email protected] phone 347-888-3833