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Home > Travel Italy > Italy Destinations > Carrara
Carrara
Italy, officially the Italian Republic or Repubblica Italiana, is a Southern European country comprising of the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is shaped like a boot and for this reason Italians commonly call it lo Stivale, the boot or, due to its prevalent peninsular geographical nature, la Penisola, the Peninsula. Inhabitants of Italy are referred to as Italians. Their official language is Standard Italian, descendant of Tuscan dialect and a direct descendant of Latin. The word Italy is derived from the Homeric Aeolic word which means bull. Today, despite regional variations in the form of accents and vowel emphasis, Italian is fully comprehensible to most throughout the country.
Carrara is a city in the province of Massa-Carrara Tuscany, Italy, famous for the white or blue-gray marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione river, some 100 km west-northwest of Florence. The municipality of Carrara was first established in 1235. Over the centuries it was ruled by Pisa, Lucca, Genoa and Milan. After the death of Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan in 1477, Carrara was fought over by Tommaso Campogregoso, lord of Sarzana, and the Malaspina family.
Carrara and Massa formed the Duchy of Massa and Carrara from the 15th to the 19th century. The derivation for the word Carrara likely comes from the ancient term Kar, the stone. Carrara marble has been famous since the time of Ancient Rome, the Pantheon and Trajan's Column in Rome are constructed of it. Many famous sculptures of the Renaissance, such as Michelangelo's David, were carved from Carrara marble.
In addition to the marble quarries, the city has academies of sculpture and fine arts and a museum of statuaries and antiquities. The local marble is exported around the world, and marble from elsewhere is also fashioned and sculpted commercially here. An international stone and machinery exhibition, CarraraMarmotec takes place in Carrara, the heart of a unique marble district. The stone tradition meets with the most up-to-date offers of the stone industry. All this, are in deep connection with the territory and a background is made of more than 1,000 companies working within the sector with almost 100 quarries.
Presently, Carrara experiences a sharp social, economic and population growth derivative of the strategic position of the locality and the high level of well-being and quality of life that is enjoyed with respect to other places of Italy.
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