Marble chessboard "Marquina"

At the base of the Apuan Alps, Carrara represents a unique reality in the world for its marble caves. Among the first who ventured into marble extraction there were the Romans who, inserting fig wood beams into the natural holes of the rocks, filled these ones with water until they completely impregnated the beams causing the cracking of the rocks. This extraction technique has been unchanged, but for little variations, till the Renaissance when Michelangelo started to frequently visit Carrara area to choose directly the raw material for his works.

Even today skilful craftsmen work this material with ability, creating wonderful pieces of art and decorative objects that represent important pieces of furniture.