The extraction process of granite and marble starts in quarries.
Marble extraction industry.
In the 17th and 18th centuries the marble quarries were monitored by the cybo and malaspina families who ruled over massa and carrara.
The marble industry is considered one of the oldest industries in the world.
Therefore this is always a unique rare material.
Mostly composed of calcium carbonate marble has been and continues to be used as a construction and decorative material due to its beauty and resistance.
Specifically the marble sector has 188 companies engaged in the extraction and processing of stone and marble in the industrial and semi industrial.
The family created the office of marble in 1564 to regulate the marble mining industry.
Mining nature is in charge of providing marble with its shape and colour for thousands of years.
The luxury stone comes the apuan alps a mountain range in northern tuscany that stretches for.
Formerly the extraction of this stone was done manually with wooden wedges halters ropes picks and shovels.
Marble is located at ground level or at great depths which make the cost too high for removal.
The technique is based on a 4 to 6 millimeters diameter steel wire combined with the abrasive action of silica sand and an abundant amount of water as a lubricant.
The marble industry is considered one of the oldest industries in the world.
A slab of carrara marble can cost up to 400 per square meter.
Historically the industry moved from labor intensive to capital intensive with the advent of technological advancement including development of automated production tools like cranes and diamond cutting wires.
The real revolution of the marble extraction techniques took place at the end of the 19th century with the invention of the helical wire and the penetrating pulley.
Carrara marble has been used since the time of ancient rome and it was called the luni marble.
Historically the industry moved from labor intensive to capital intensive with the advent of technological advancement including development of automated production tools like cranes and diamond cutting wires.
In addition to these there are approximately 170 units that deal with the processing of marble in the traditional way with staff and technical capacity reduced.