CARRARA
From Michelangelo to Contemporary Art: History, Environment and Traditions of a Millennial Culture.
Adventure between marble and nature
Apearlnestled between the Ligurian Sea and the Apuan Alps, Carrara has been known since Roman times for its white marble used in art and architecture. Heir toancient Luni, of which archaeological excavations remain, the city lies in an amazing territory: the valley of the Carrione stream, hills, mountains with marble basins and the sea.
Dante in theInferno excitedly describes that extraordinary landscape that leaves the gaze free from the stars to the sea, and the harsh beauty of the mountain where the Etruscan soothsayer Arontes lives in marble caves.
Unspoiled views and a wide range of experiences: from the Apuan trails to beaches, castles, villages and Museums of Excellence. Guided tours of quarries and sculpture workshops or walks through the town center with art experts telling the story carved in stone will satisfy the curiosity of the most discerning tourists.
CHAPTER #2
Neither servants nor masters
IfAnarchy were a state , the Capital would be Carrara.
Memorials commemorating the Anarchists and the struggles of the people are everywhere. From the Monument for Quarrymen’s Working Hours to the Monument to Gaetano Bresci in Turigliano Cemetery to the paving of Piazza Alberica built for a strike, the rebellious spirit is etched in the marble and in the arms of those who carved, cut, carried and sculpted it.
Gabriele D’Annunzio, in Cities of Silence, rhymes the life of the quarryman, the cries of the ox-driver, the bugle and the blast of the mine, as a furious, daily battle.
Visiting Carrara transforms storytelling into experience: learning about a rugged and strong, energetic and vital tradition that is reflected in the tough but sociable people, the breathtaking landscapes between the Apuan Alps and the sea, the forests, the castles, and the delicacies such as Lardo di Colonnata, Tajarin ‘ntifasoli , and Rice Cake.
Two thousand years of marble
Michelangelowrotethatthe excellent artist has no concept that a marble alone does not circumscribe, and that is that all art lies in a single piece of marble.Carrara is the city of marble: the medieval Duomo, Bandinelli’s Giant, the Beatrice in Piazza Alberica, artists ancient and present; here the great universal works such as the David or Michelangelo’s Pieta are born. There is also a mountain whose profile recalls the sculpture of the Renaissance genius.
Streets, facades, palaces, tell stories that never cease to amaze.
A culture that goes from quarrying, to the ancient transport called lizzatura, to the hard work of cutting, shaping, sculpting. Tradition always alive: the Nicoli Sculpture Studio, the Academy of Fine Arts, Carriona Street with Laboratories.
Quarrymen, stonemasons, hewers, craftsmen: these are the Marble Men who, even today, transform the block into art with their own hands.
Alternanza Scuola Lavoro, Liceo Marconi Carrara
Federico Andrei; Francesco Ducci; Sabrina Lavaggi; Lorenzo Polselli; Daniele Bugliani; Kalid El Fatimi Bardini; Elia Merli
Alessandro Macchioni; Tommaso Sodini; Diana Tarasenko