Carrara ( ; ; , ) is a town and comune in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey Carrara marble quarried there.
Toponymy
The word
Carrara likely comes from the pre-Roman (
Celtic languages or Ligurian) element
kar (stone), through Latin
carrariae meaning 'quarries'.
[Repetti]
History
There were known settlements in the area as early as the ninth century BC, when the Apuan Ligures lived in the region. The current town originated from the borough built to house workers in the marble quarries created by the
ancient Rome after their conquest of
Liguria in the early second century BC. Carrara has been linked with the process of quarrying and carving marble since the Roman Age. Marble was exported from the nearby harbour of Luni at the mouth of the river
Magra.
[ Carrara and its environs, InterScultura]
In the early Middle Ages it was a Byzantine and then Lombard possession, and then, it was under the Bishops of Luni who started to write the city's history when the Emperor Otto I gave it to them.
After the death of Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan in 1447, Carrara was fought over by Tommaso Campofregoso, lord of Sarzana, and again the Malaspina family, who moved here the seat of their signoria in the second half of the 15th century. Carrara and Massa formed the Duchy of Massa and Carrara from the 15th to the 19th century. Under the last Malaspina, Maria Teresa, who had married Ercole III d'Este, it became part of the Duchy of Modena.
After the short Napoleonic rule of Elisa Bonaparte, it was given back to Modena. During the unification of Italy age, Carrara was the seat of a popular revolt led by Domenico Cucchiari, and was a center of Giuseppe Mazzini's revolutionary activity.
At the end of the 19th century Carrara became the cradle of anarchism in Italy, in particular among the quarry workers. The quarry workers, including the stone carvers, had radical beliefs that set them apart from others. Ideas from outside the city began to influence the Carrarese. Anarchism and general radicalism became part of the heritage of the stone carvers. According to a The New York Times article of 1894 many violent revolutionists who had been expelled from Belgium and Switzerland went to Carrara in 1885 and founded the first anarchist group in Italy.[ A Stronghold of Anarchists, The New York Times, 19 January 1894] Carrara has remained a continuous 'hotbed' of anarchism in Italy, with several organizations located in the city. The Anarchist marble workers were also the driving force behind organising labour in the quarries and in the carving sheds. They were also the main protagonists of the Lunigiana revolt in January 1894.
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.
Title
As a titular Duke of Modena, the current holder of the title of "Prince of Carrara" would be Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este.
Economy
Carrara marble has been used since the time of
Ancient Rome. The Pantheon and Trajan's Column in Rome are constructed of it, and many
of the
Renaissance were carved from it.
Carrara-Avenza railway station is the nearest train station.
Culture
Fortitude Mea in Rota "My strength in the wheel". The wheel of the carriage made to transport marble blocks from quarry to load out during Roman Empire and after, is the symbol of Carrara.
Coat of arms and symbols
According to the Grand Orient of Italy, the coat of arms of Carrara contains the
Comacina wheel, symbol of the ancient master stonemasons of Como.
Main sights
-
Cathedral ( Duomo, 12th century).
-
Ducal Palace (also Palazzo Cybo Malaspina, 16th century), now the seat of the Fine art Academy. Built over pre-existing Lombards fortification, it dates to the reign of Guglielmo Malaspina, becoming in 1448 the permanent seat of the dynasty. It includes two distinct edifices: the Castello Malaspiniano, dating to the 13th century, and the Renaissance palace, begun by Alberico I in the late 16th century. Under the medieval loggia are exposed several ancient Roman findings.
-
Baroque church and convent of San Francesco, built in 1623–64 by order of Carlo I Cybo-Malaspina.
-
Church of the Suffragio, begun in 1686 under design of Innocenzo Bergamini, and refurbished in the 19th century. The façade has a large marble portal in Baroque style, sculpted by Carlo Finelli and surmounted by a Relief with the "Madonna and the Souls of the Purgatory".
-
Palazzo Cybo-Malaspina
-
Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie alla Lugnola, consecrated in 1676 and designed by Alessandro Bergamini.
-
Church of Santa Maria Assunta, at Torano. It has a 16th-century façade with a portal from 1554. The interior is on a nave and two aisles.
Sister cities
Carrara is twinned with:
Notable people
-
Eumone Baratta (1823~After 1890), sculptor
-
Federico Bernardeschi (1994–), footballer
-
Gianluigi Buffon (1978–), footballer
-
Giorgio Chinaglia (1947–2012), footballer
-
Hanna Eshel (1926–2023), sculptor
-
Francesco Gabbani (1982–), singer
-
Lorenzo Musetti (2002–), tennis player
-
Pietro Tacca (1577–1640), sculptor
-
Cristiano Zanetti (1977–), former footballer
-
Carlo Bergamini (1868–1934), sculptor
See also
External links
-
-
-
"Carrara" (Marble), in The Monumental News Magazine, March 1893, pp. 273–275.
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"The Carrara Marble Industry," Scientific American Supplement, 17 May 1902, pp. 22045–22046.
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"A Marble World" (Carrara, Italy), by E. St. John Hart, article in Pearson's Magazine, February 1903
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Landsat 7 photograph of Carrara marble quarries in August 2001
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Overnight in Carrara, Italy – slideshow by The New York Times
