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Ever since ancient times, the extraction techniques of the marble from the
Apuan Alps have profoundly
conditioned and “sculpted” the Apennine landscape around
Carrara. Indeed, up
till the XVI century, the techniques used for the development of the marble
basins had been directly inherited by the Roman quarrymen of the first centuries
before Christ and consisted of the careful use of the subtle cracks which divide
the different layers of marble. The slaves, thanks to metallic chisels and
wooden wedges which were inflated with water and then placed inside the natural
cracks, easily managed to separate the marble blocks from the mountain which
were then transported down to the bottom of the valley. Back then, the “lizza”
was used for transport (a large sledge secured by a metallic cable which slided
on lubricated logs).
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With the arrival of explosives, the excavation procedures changed drastically
and the Apennine landscape went through a profound change. The typical
“ravaneti” appeared a bit everywhere, formed by large buildups of debris, which
were witness of the large waste of marble products due to the explosions. Steep
“rocky roads” (“vie di arroccamento”) go through these “moulds” of debris thanks
to which one can reach the extraction basins. Little by little, the first
industrial activities linked to the working of the marble begun, with factories
for the cutting and polishing of slabs. These first productive units
concentrated themselves at the bottom of the valley in order to benefit from the
hydraulic energy generated by the rivers.
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The helicoidal wire that was used to cut the stone from the end of the XIX
century onwards represented a real revolution. This metallic cable, capable of
digging in the stone, pressured together with a mix of water and sand,
substituted almost completely the explosives and determined another visible
change in the landscape. The mountain stopped being destroyed, leaving behind
piles of wreckage, and begun to be literally “cut”, sculpted with precision,
creating surreal landscapes made of huge flights of steps, and platforms called
quarry warehouses (“piazzali di cava”) where the stone is cut and prepared for
transport. Once the long and tormented period of the “lizza”, the period of the
four wheeled carts driven by ox and the short period of the marble train, the
quarries are today equipped with installations which allow for the cutting of
enormous masses which are then reduced to smaller blocks, which in their turn
are sent by truck to the sawmills, the factories and the port.
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The old “rocky roads”, now an integral part of the landscape with their
accidental zigzags, are the quickest and cheapest way for the
“capillary” service of the quarries. Along the inaccessible road, the
trucks, forced to dangerous manoeuvres, come and go “naturally”, going
through first the Carriona Road and then the city before reaching their
various destinations.
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The Coast