Carrara

The city of marble light

The picturesque historic centre of Carrara is certainly worth a visit.  Although here marble is found everywhere, we can safely assume that the city doesn’t make show of opulence. The façades of the buildings, the windowsills and frames, the decorations of the portals the fountains, the benches in the gardens, the monuments, the street plates, the stairways and the sidewalks of the historical center, everything is made of marble.

Not to be missed are the Cathedral and its “wheel” popular all over the world. Also, the main square Albericawith its spectacular fountain and “Beatrice” that controls the square.

History

Around the first century CE, with the beginning of the marble excavation, some powerful families of the Roman city of Luni ordered the foundation of some settlements. With the decline of the Roman Empire and the first centuries of the Middle Ages, the quarries were abandoned; these episodes started a profound transformation of the society that had settled there, turning it into an essentially agricultural community.
We must wait for the tenth century, when with the progressive development of a curtis de Cararia, Otto I transformed it into a fief of the bishop of Luni in 963 CE. In 1322 the city passed under the control of Castruccio Castracani, then of Lucca, finally of the Visconti of Milan, who held it until 1402. After becoming the dominion of the Malaspina in 1442, Carrara linked its events to those of Massa, as the two cities were united under the territory of the family.
After the Malaspina dynasty died out, the territory was first joined to the Dukedom of Modena (1741) and then assigned to Maria Beatrice of Austria-Este, remaining under the dominion of the lords of Ferrara until the Unification of Italy (1859).
During the Risorgimento period, Carrara was the scene of bitter social struggles, becoming the home of socialists and anarchists. In particular, workers were asking for wage increases and above all to become owners of the quarries themselves.
In 1902 the quarry workers obtained the most right contract for that period for a class of workers.
With the advent of fascism there were lacerating and bloody divisions, and precisely in honor of this, the insurrection of the inhabitants forced the Germans to leave the area between 8 and 16 April 1945.

How to visit

You can enjoy this beautiful city during the “From the Marble Mountain to a Piece of Art” experience and during “The Pillars of Lunigiana” experience.