mermom

Can someone tell me how to get from Florence, Pisa or Cinque Terre to see the marble cliffs (and museum) in Carrara? Ideally we'd take a train and/or bus not an automobile. And, ideally, we'd travel from Florence to Carrara, ending up in Cinque Terre. Relatedly, any suggestions for B&Bs or hotels in Vernazza, Como, or Sirmione? Molto grazie.

Sampaguita

Carrara is on the train line between La Spezia (your Cinque Terre stop)and Pisa, well actually you would get off at Marina di Carrara, and the actual town is a short distance away, but sorry I can't help you about the museum or quarries, except that I have heard that the quarries open to the public are in nearby Colonnata, and there is a bus.

Mario06

I know it is not answer on your question but here is some info about Carrara:
http://www.tuscanweb.com/news/?ID=164

Marko

Mermom, Just out of curiousity what attracts you to visiting Carrara?

annhig

Mermon, I'm with Marko here. WE ended up at Carrara once, admittedly on a sunday pm so probably not teh best day, and apart from the marble pavements, it didn't make a big impression. Unless you have unlimited time, I'd not bother.

caroline_edinburgh

A few months ago I saw a TV programme which showed the sourcing of the marble for a statue at Carrara & it seemed to be hacked out underground - so I don't know if there's any marble visible above ground, in the form of cliffs or whatever, today.

jgg

We were just in Carrara a few weeks ago. We drove from Lerici (on the Ligurian coast), only about a 1/2 hour drive. There are no cliffs, per se, as it is not on the coast, but there are beautiful mountains covered in white marble. I had read "Agony and the Ecstasy" by Irving Stone twice and had always wanted to visit Carrara.

We didn’t really know where we were going when we got to the town, but just kept following the signs to cave di marmo which just kept heading us up the mountains. We stopped to take some pictures then kept heading up. Lucky us, we ended up on a flat area with a small museum, a shop and a working cave that was giving tours that day as it was a Saturday. They took us down into the cave in a mini van. They had a guide in English and one in Italian. The groups were small, maybe 6-8 people. It was very interesting to go down there and the tour was quite good. We bought a few things made right there from their marble

mermom

Thanks to everyone for your replies. My reason for visiting are the same as JGG & family's -- having read "The Agony & the Ecstacy" I wanted to see the original site of the marble. As an aside, I recommend the book to anyone interested in Italy. JGG: do you happen to remember whether there was a train, bus stop or town anywhere near where the museum/tour was? For now, I'll websearch Cave di Marmo. I know there's still marble visible there; I flew over a few years back and it looked like snow...but it was summer (and marble).

jgg

mermom - Yes, I agree that Agony and the Ecstasy is a great read for anyone travelling to Italy. Yes, there is still plenty of marble up there. I did not see any bus or train stations near where we were as we were fairly high up in the mountains. I know the train is down in the main town of Carrara and I am not sure how high the bus routes go. You may want to look at this site www.aptmassacarrara.it/eng/ as it seems to have some tourism info. on Carrara. Good luck, we really enjoyed our visit up there. Just know that if you end up at a working cave or quarry you will end up with marble dust all over you, particularly on your feet!