MARMI ANTICHI E MARMI STORICI DELLE ALPI APUANE

This paper intends to present itself as a catalogue raisonné with illustrations of the ornamental materials of historical- cultural value outcropping in the Apuan Alps. It also represents the descriptive and iconographic appendix of the manuscript Istoria delle pietre by Agostino del Riccio (ca. 1597), however limited to the marble varieties of the same area listed by this author, also including similar lithotypes unknown to him. The main varieties are here categorised as ancient marble or historical marble, according two different ways of classifying ornamental stone. The first category includes materials extracted recurrently in Antiquity with a diffusion not limited to the local area. The most important commercial types of Carrara (Ordinario, Nuvolato, Bardiglio, Venato, Statuario, Calacata e Arabescato) are part of this class, because different facies of the Marmor lunense, already known and appreciated in Roman times. The second category groups together the lithotypes that simultaneously satisfy some main criteria: ancient exploitation, well-known material and limited resource. The combination of these three conditions gives to "historical" the composite meaning of "exploitation and processing for centuries - value of knowledge over time - limited expectations in terms of production and slow development of quarrying activity". The information obtained from bibliographic source, allowed us to select forty-four types between ancient marble (n. 8) and historical marble (n. 36) of the Apuan Alps. This is an initial selection, perhaps incomplete and may subject to changes and additions in future. The marble list consists of forty-four descriptive cards with six fields of information for each lithotype; that is: taxonomic framework, other denominations, geological formation and age, description, start of the exploitation, traditional quarries. A whole chapter is dedicated to thoughts on the historical value of the Apuan Alps marble, especially in the current economic phase, characterised by the progressive decrease of the local processing in parallel to the high exploitation of the deposits to support the export of the same raw material. The proposal contained herein aims to limit access to the natural resource in order to preserve it and increase its value in terms of price/profit, always seeking greater quality in processing. The future enhancement of ancient marble and historical marble follows the path of "limited" and "precious" factors. These materials must be subjected to a contingency exploitation plan and are to be used in high profile and high value works. They have an intrinsic potential to reconstruct a local production chain. The difficult path of promotion is the only way forward, emphasizing their historical and cultural identity.