Carrara ( , ; , ) is a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
and ''
comune'' in
Tuscany, in central Italy, of the
province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey
marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some
west-northwest of
Florence. Its motto is ''Fortitudo mea in rota'' (Latin: "My strength is in the wheel").
Toponymy
The word ''Carrara'' likely comes from the pre-Roman (
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
or
Ligurian) element ''kar'' (stone), through Latin ''carrariae'' meaning 'quarries'.
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
Romans 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.
In the early
Middle Ages it was a Byzantine and then Lombard possession, and then, it was under the
Bishops of Luni
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
who started to write the city's history when the Emperor
Otto I gave it to them. It turned itself into a
city-state in the early 13th century; during the struggle between
Guelphs and Ghibellines
The Guelphs and Ghibellines (, , ; it, guelfi e ghibellini ) were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, ri ...
, Carrara usually belonged to the latter party. The Bishops acquired it again in 1230, their rule ending in 1313, when the city was given in succession to the
Republics of Pisa,
Lucca and
Florence. Later it was acquired by
Gian Galeazzo Visconti
Gian Galeazzo Visconti (16 October 1351 – 3 September 1402), was the first duke of Milan (1395) and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He also ruled Lombardy jointly with his uncle Bernabò. He was the foundi ...
of
Milan.
After the death of
of
Milan in 1447, Carrara was fought over by
Tommaso Campofregoso Tommaso is an Italian given name. It has also been used as a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name A
* Tommaso Acquaviva d'Aragona (1600–1672), Roman Catholic prelate
* Tommaso Aldrovandini (1653–1736), Italian painter of ...
, 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
Maria Teresa (born María Teresa Mestre y Batista; 22 March 1956) is the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg as the wife of Grand Duke Henri, who acceded to the throne in 2000.
Early life and education
Maria Teresa was born on 22 March 1956 in Marian ...
, 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
Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to:
People
* Domenico Alfani, Italian painter
* Domenico Allegri, Italian composer
* Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster
* Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter
* Domenico Auria, Italian archit ...
, 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 ''
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. Carrara has remained a continuous 'hotbed' of anarchism in Italy, with several organizations located openly 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
sculptures of the
Renaissance were carved from it.
Culture
In addition to the
marble quarries, the city has academies of sculpture and fine arts and a
museum of statuary and antiquities, and a yearly marble technology fair. The local marble is exported around the world, and marble from elsewhere is also fashioned and sculpted commercially here.
Main sights
*
Cathedral (''Duomo'', 12th century).
*Ducal Palace (also ''Palazzo Cybo Malaspina'', 16th century), now the seat of the
Fine Arts
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...
Academy. Built over pre-existing
Lombard fortification, it dates to the reign of
Guglielmo Malaspina
Guglielmo () is the Italian form of the masculine name William. It may refer to:
People with the given name Guglielmo:
* Guglielmo I Gonzaga (1538–1587), Duke of Mantua and Montferrat
* Guglielmo Achille Cavellini (1914–1990), influential I ...
, 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
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
style, sculpted by
Carlo Finelli Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to:
*Carlo (name)
*Monte Carlo
*Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...
and surmounted by a
bas-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
Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to:
* In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so;
* Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning
* Twinning inst ...
with:
*
Grasse, France
*
Ingolstadt, Germany
*
Kragujevac
Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Serbia, and is situated on ...
, Serbia
*
Opole
Opole (; german: Oppeln ; szl, Ôpole) ;
* Silesian:
** Silesian PLS alphabet: ''Ôpole''
** Steuer's Silesian alphabet: ''Uopole''
* Silesian German: ''Uppeln''
* Czech: ''Opolí''
* Latin: ''Oppelia'', ''Oppolia'', ''Opulia'' is a city loc ...
, Poland
*
Yerevan, Armenia
*
Yunfu, China
Notable people
*
Federico Bernardeschi
Federico Bernardeschi (; born 16 February 1994) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for Major League Soccer club Toronto FC and the Italy national team. His nickname is "Brunelleschi", after th ...
*
Gianluigi Buffon
*
Giorgio Chinaglia
*
Francesco Gabbani
*
Lorenzo Musetti
*
Pietro Tacca
*
Cristiano Zanetti
Cristiano Zanetti (; born 10 April 1977) is a retired Italian footballer who played as a midfielder and current football coach. He was most recently in charge of Massese.
Zanetti played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, winning t ...
See also
*
No Cav
No Cav is an Italy, Italian protest movement that arose in the early 21st century, criticising the Carrara marble quarries in the Apuan Alps.
Name and flag
The phrase ''No Cav'', short for "No Cave" (No Quarries, in Italian), was used for the ...
*
Carrara marble
*
Marmifera di Carrara railway
The Marmifera, full name it, Ferrovia Marmifera Privata di Carrara, italic=no, lit=private marble railway of Carrara, was an Italian industrial railway used for the transport of Carrara marble from the Quarry, quarries of the municipal territo ...
References
External links
*
*
Marble Quarry in the Massa and Carrara region"Carrara" (Marble), in ''The Monumental News'' Magazine, March 1893, pp. 273-275."The Carrara Marble Industry,"''Scientific American Supplement'', May 17, 1902, pp. 22045–22046.
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080922183717/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17399 Landsat 7 photograph of Carrara marble quarries in August 2001Overnight in Carrara, Italy- slideshow by ''
The New York Times''
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Tuscany
Coastal towns in Tuscany
Municipalities of the Province of Massa-Carrara