Carrara
| Comune di Carrara | |
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 Municipal coat of arms |
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| Country |  Italy |
| Region | Tuscany |
| Province | Massa-Carrara (MS) |
| Mayor | Andrea Angelo Zubbani |
| Elevation | 100 m (328 ft) |
| Area | 71 km² (27.4 sq mi) |
| Population (as of 2008-05-31) | |
| - Total | 65,491 |
| - Density | [n.a.] |
| Time zone | CET, UTC+1 |
| Coordinates | |
| Gentilic | Carraresi |
| Dialing code | 0585 |
| Postal code | 54033 |
| Frazioni | Codena, Bedizzano, Bergiola, Colonnata, Miseglia, Torano, Sorgnano, Avenza, Marina di Carrara, Castelpoggio, Fontia, Gragnana, Noceto |
| Patron | San Ceccardo |
| - Day | June 16 |
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.
Its motto is Fortitudo mea in rota (Latin for "My force is in the wheel").
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History
The municipality of Carrara was established in 1235.
Over the centuries it was ruled by Pisa (1235), Lucca (1322), Genoa (1329), and Milan (1343). 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.
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.
Main sights
- Cathedral (12th century).
- Ducal Palace (16th century), now the seat of the Fine Arts Academy.
- Palazzo Cybo-Malaspina
Economy and culture
Carrara marble has been used since the time of Ancient Rome; the Pantheon and Trajan's Column in Rome are constructed of it. Many sculptures of the Renaissance, such as Michelangelo's David, were carved from Carrara marble. For Michelangelo at least, Carrara marble was valued above all other stone, except perhaps that of his own quarry in Pietrasanta. The Marble Arch in London and the Duomo di Siena are also made from this stone.
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.
Derivation of name
The word "Carrara" likely comes from the ancient term "Kar" (stone). Ancient Romans quarried the marble, loaded it onto ships at the port of Luni and took it to Rome. According to Saint Girolamo, the name Carrara derives from “car” which means "wagons" and from “iara” that means "Moon", so is the “City of the Moon on the Wagons”.
Another hypothesis (Repetti) is that the term is derived from the French “careers”, which in turn is borrowed from “carrariae”, a Latin term meaning quarry. Carrara may derive from a preRoman term : “kair” (Celtic) or to one from Liguria: “kar”, that means "stone" and therefore: “car+aria” meaning “place of stones”.
Sister cities
Yerevan, Armenia
Ingolstadt, Germany
Grasse, France
Opole, Poland
Novelda, Spain
Kragujevac, Serbia
Famous Carraresi
- Gianluigi Buffon
- Giorgio Chinaglia
- Pietro Tacca
- Cristiano Zanetti
External links
- Official website
- Weather conditions at Carrara
- Marble Quarry in the Massa-Carrara region
- “A Marble World” (Carrara, Italy), by E. St. John Hart, article in Pearson’s Magazine, February 1903, on Stone Quarries and Beyond
- Landsat 7 photograph of Carrara marble quarries in August 2001
- COLONNATA.COM
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