From Marble to Marvel

The Story of History’s Most Breathtaking Transformation

In the courtyard of the landmark Santa Maria del Fiore, better known as Duomo di Firenze or the Florence Cathedral, sat a twenty-ton hunk of marble sourced from the Tuscan village of Carrara. Despite its most unremarkable countenance, the rock’s provenance made it one of Italy’s most prized possessions at the time. The Alpine quarries of Tuscany were kn…