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Carrara
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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").
lements in the area are known since the 9th century BC, when here the Apuan Ligures lived here. The current town originated from the borough built to house workers in the marble quarries created by the Romans after their conquest of Liguria in the early 2th century BC.
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Encyclopedia
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").
History
Settlements in the area are known since the 9th century BC, when here the Apuan Ligures lived here. The current town originated from the borough built to house workers in the marble quarries created by the Romans after their conquest of Liguria in the early 2th century BC. In the Middle Ages it was a Byzantine and Lombard possession, and then belonged to the bishops of Luni and the Malaspina family, turning itself into an autonomous commune in the early 13th century; during the struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines, Carrara usually belonged to the latter party. The Bishops acquired it again in 1230, their rule ending in 1313, when the city was given in succession to the Republics of Pisa, Lucca and Florence. Later it was acquired by Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan.
After the death of Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan in 1477, Carrara was fought over by Tommaso Campofregoso, lord of Sarzana, and again the Malaspina family, who moved here the seat of their signoria in the second half of the 16th century. Carrara and Massa formed the Duchy of Massa and Carrara from the 15th to the 19th century. Under the last Malaspina, Maria Teresa, who had married Ercole III d'Este, it became part of the Duchy of Modena.
After the short Napoleonic rule of Elisa Bonaparte, it was given back to Modena. During the unification of Italy age, Carrara was the seat of a popular revolt led by Domenico Cucchiari, and was a center of Giuseppe Mazzini's revolutionary activity.
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 (Duomo, 12th century).
- Ducal Palace (also Palazzo Cybo Malaspina, 16th century), now the seat of the Fine Arts Academy. Built over pre-existing Lombard fortification, it dates to the reign of Guglielmo Malaspina, becoming in 1448 the permanent seat of the dynasty. It includes two distinct edifices: the Castello Malaspiniano, dating to the 13th century, and the Renaissance palace, begun by Alberico I in the late 16th century. Under the medieval loggia are exposed several ancient Roman findings.
- Baroque church and convent of San Francesco, built in 1623-1664 by order of Carlo I Cybo-Malaspina.
- Church of the Suffragio, begun in 1686 under design of Innocenzo Bergamini, and refurbished in the 19th century. The façade has a large marble portal in Baroque style, sculpted by Carlo Finelli and surmounted by a bas-relief with the "Madonna and the Souls of the Purgatory".
- Palazzo Cybo-Malaspina
- Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie alla Lugnola, consecrated in 1676 and designed by Alessandro Bergamini.
- Church of Santa Maria Assunta, at Torano. It has a 16th century façade with a portal from 1554. The interior is on a nave and two aisles.
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 , 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, , 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”.
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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
Carrara is twinned with:
Famous Carraresi
External links
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