Trips

Sun., 10/2/16 – Lucca and Carrara

       We had passed by the Carrara marble mountains two times while in Italy last year and today we got to go up the mountain and into the quarries. After a short bus ride, we arrived in Carrara and walked to the marble St. Andrew Cathedral (not richly decorated, but built between 1000 and 1400 of white marble with a wood beam ceiling) and a marble bell tower.  We ate a lunch of brochette with tomato and lard (yes, sliced lard, not rendered), bean soup with pasta noodles, and a rice custard dessert in the square at Cucinare.

Main Square in Carrara	Carrara Cathedral or Duomo - Bell tower
Carrara Cathedral	Marble working diorama
Marble cutting tools	Sign for the Quarry Tour
Our visit to the mountain was by two 4x4 land rovers with 9 of us in each vehicle.  We stopped part of the way up to acquire the required hard hats and florescent work vests. The hard hats protected our heads from the ceiling of the vehicle on the incredibly bouncy ride.  The narrow two-way road became a marble gravel, steep, rutted road but the vehicles got us up to 3300 feet of elevation.  We stopped at two of the 188 quarries on the mountain. Since it was Sunday, no work was going on - probably a good thing because it was quiet and we didn't have to contend with work trucks on those very narrow roads. Fifty million tons of marble are removed every year and they won’t run out because the entire mountain is marble, not just a vein here and there.  The largest block without a flaw was 51x10x10 feet and now stands in Rome.  In most countries of the world, except in Texas (oil) and Carrara (marble), landowners own only the top 18 inches of their land and below that is government owned and controlled.  Carrara marble has 80 or 90 private owners and they pay no taxes on the marble they sell according to a 1750’s Law.  Twelve hundred people work in the marble quarry business but none get rich.  Carrara is actually a poor city.             Our guide explained how drills and diamond studded cables or a huge diamond chain saw are used to cut marble blocks.  Seven hundred trucks use these rocky roads to haul the blocks or chips out each day.  The chips are crushed into CO3 (calcium carbonate) dust that is added to toothpaste, milk, powder, etc.  It was all awesome!
Our jeep transports	Carrara Marble Quarries
Gale in the required hard hat	Carrara Marble Quarries
Carrara Marble Quarries	Carrara Marble Quarries - diamond bladed saw for cutting the marble
Carrara Marble Quarries	Carrara Marble Quarries
Carrara Marble Quarries	Carrara Marble Quarries
It was an exciting road	Carrara Marble Quarries
After our usual “dinner” in our room, we went to the Church of San Giovanni to hear a one-hour operatic performance of Puccini and Traditional Neapolitan Songs by a soprano, Fabiola Formiga, and a tenor, Simone Frediani, with piano accompaniment.  The stone and marble church created an echo but all in all it was enjoyable.  The performance was part of the Puccini e la Sua Lucca International Festival.	Puccini Concert

 

Mon., 10/3/16 – Lucca to Florence to Chianti

        Our visit to Florence included a tour of the south side of the Arno River.  We began up on the hill at the Basilica St. Miniato, an 11th c. Romanesque church with a zodiac on the floor of the nave.  It was used as a calendar for the church as well as a religious connection for former pagans.

	Basilica of San Miniato al Monte
Franco Zeffirelli family plot	Basilica of San Miniato
Basilica of San Miniato - Tomb stone of a descendent of Vespucci	From the church, we walked down from “Michaelangelo’s View Point” overlooking the city of Florence, through the Rose Garden that had some interesting sculptures, and past the old 1300’s city walls.  We entered the old Roman city through the Gate of St. Miniato and Tommaso had us sample another local favorite, Brute e Bella = Bitter and Sweet.
Florence - from “Michaelangelo’s View Point”	City wall and Boboli Gardens - from “Michaelangelo’s View Point”
Ponte Vecchio - from “Michaelangelo’s View Point”	Tower of Palazzo Vecchio - from “Michaelangelo’s View Point”
The Duomo - from “Michaelangelo’s View Point”	Another interesting sign
Folon’s Florence in a Suitcase - Partir (to leave)	Tommaso’s goodies - Brute e Bella - Bitter and Sweet
Vespas	More Vespas
Recycling	Just the right size
Jan Fabre - Spiritual Guards

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