Carrara Marble Quarrying

Timeline

1. 1360–1380Quarries of the Carrara mountains · CarraraContinued construction of the cathedrals of Pisa and Florence and civic monumental buildings drove demand for white marble blocks; quarries expanded their open-cut faces, using wedge-and-iron splitting and log-rolling descent, with blocks hauled by mountain roads to the river valleys.
2. 1390–1500Port of Carrara and the lower Arno · TuscanyQuarrying guilds and carriers divided labor clearly; large blocks were loaded onto ships at the port of Carrara or transshipped via Tuscany's inland river network. The supply range extended to cities across the Italian Peninsula and some overseas sites, providing a standard stone source for Renaissance sculpture.