Carrara

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Carrara is a city in the province of Massa-Carrara (Tuscany, Italy), famous for the white or blue-gray marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some 100 km west-northwest of Florence.

Motto

Fortitudo mea in rota (My force is in the wheel)

History

The municipality of Carrara was established in 1235. Over the centuries it was ruled by Pisa (1235), Lucca (1322), Genoa (1329), and Milan (1343). After the death of Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan in 1477, Carrara was fought over by Tommaso Campogregoso, lord of Sarzana, and the Malaspina family.

Carrara and Massa formed the Duchy of Massa and Carrara from the 15^th to the 19^th century.

In 1929, the municipalities of Carrara, Massa and Montignoso were merged in a single municipality, called Apuania. In 1945 the previous situation was restored.

Carrara is the birthplace of the International Federation of Anarchists (IFA), formed in 1968.

Main sights

• Cathedral (12th century).
• Ducal Palace (16th century), now the seat of the Fine Arts Academy.

Economy and culture

Carrara marble has been used since the time of Ancient Rome; the Pantheon and Trajan's Column in Rome are constructed of it. Many sculptures of the Renaissance, such as Michelangelo's David, were carved from Carrara marble. For Michelangelo at least, Carrara marble was valued above all other stone, except perhaps that of his own quarry in Pietrasanta. The Marble Arch in London and the Duomo di Siena are also made from this stone.

In addition to the marble quarries, the city has academies of sculpture and fine arts and a museum of statuaries and antiquities. The local marble is exported around the world, and marble from elsewhere is also fashioned and sculpted commercially here.

An international stone and machinery exhibition, CarraraMarmotec, takes place in Carrara.

Derivation of name

The word "Carrara" likely comes from the ancient term "Kar" (stone). Ancient Romans quarried the marble, loaded it onto ships at the port of Luni and took it to Rome. According to Saint Girolamo, the name Carrara derives from “car” which means "wagons" and from “iara” that means "Moon", so is the “City of the Moon on the Wagons”.

Another hypothesis (Repetti) is that the term is derived from the French “careers”, which in turn is borrowed from “carrariae”, a Latin term meaning quarry. Carrara may derive from a preRoman term : “kair” (Celtic) or to one from Liguria: “kar”, that means "stone" and therefore: “car+aria” meaning “place of stones”.

Famous Carraresi

• Gianluigi Buffon
• Giorgio Chinaglia
• Pietro Tacca

Gallery

External links

• Official website
• Carrara project
• Marble Quarry in the Massa-Carrara region
• Landsat 7 photograph of Carrara marble quarries in August 2001

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Last updated on Saturday January 12, 2008 at 12:04:54 PST (GMT -0800)
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