Inhabitants in 1991: 67.197
The
municipal territory of Carrara extends for 71,27 square kilometres in
an area essentially mountainous, on the coastal slopes of the Apuane Alpi.
Erected as a confederation of free municipalities, in 1938 it merged with
the municipalities of Massa and Montignoso in the new municipality of
Apuania, the 1 March 1946 it was reconstituted as autonomous municipality.
Since antiquity the place where Carrara arose was celebrated for the
production of marble and its name is said to have origins from
Liguria-Apuana roots which signify “pietra” (stone). With
the beginning of the marble excavations, dated from at least the first
century A.D. certain powerful families of the nearby Luni, together
with others of Roman patricianship founded various villages, the first
nucleus of the future city. The fall of the Roman Empire and the first
centuries of the Medieval provoked an abandonment of the quarries and
thus a profound transformation for the little society which had settled
there, who took on an essentially agricultural character. The first
documented mention of the capital is from 963 when Emperor
Ottone I conceded to the Bishop of Luni the “curtis de Carraria”,
or rather the whole, constituted by the little centres of Torrecchia,
Quarto, Lutignano, Vezzala, Torano Potrignano, Bergiola and others. In
the following three centuries, while the work in the quarries was resumed,
there was a progressive affirmation of the municipal foundations, whose
development the Bishop of Luni tried in vain to stop.
In 1235 the first statute of the municipality was drawn up; in
1261 the curia, in an extreme attempt to get back the obedience of its
subjects, hit out with the excommunication of the men of Carrara
without however obtaining any concrete result. In 1313 Arrigo VII
assigned Carrara, which was still a small centre, to the republic of
Pisa. And like this a new period started for them, characterised by
political instability, in consequence to the appetite provoked
by the richness of the place and by its intermediate geographic position:
after the dominion of Pisa, which even though brief contributed in a definitive
manner to the growth of the extraction activity, it was the turn of the
Lordship of Castruccio Castracani (1322), then Spinola from Genova
(1329), Rossi di Parma (1330), Scaligeri (1335), Visconti di Milano (1343),
Spinetta Malaspina. This last competed, with success, for some years
with the Milano Lords, before they regained possession and governed it
until 1404 when it was acquired for 15,000 florins by Paolo Giunigi
Lord of Lucca. After all the other events in 1442 it finally returned
to the Malaspina and the history of Carrara became from then commune with
that of Massa, being the sole territory of the dominating family of Marquis.
In modern times, the Malaspina dynasty being extinct, the territory
passed to the Cybo-Malaspina until 1741 when it was united to the Duchy
of Modena. Assigned in 1790 to Maria Beatrice d’Austria-Este,
Carrara remained – with an interval with the Cisalpina republic
and with Elisa Baciocchi (1798-1815) – with the Estensi until
1859. After the annexation to the Realm of Italy Carrara’s history
was rich with episodes of social struggle. Already the Italian Risorgimento
patriotism had assumed classist colours; among the quarry workers
there were formed strong and aggressive groups of republicans, socialists
and above all anarchists and in 1889 the municipal administration
was conquered by a socialist-democratic blockade. In 1894 the popular
motions raised by the marble workers brought out the request for salary
increases, but also laid claim to the property of the quarries for
the workers. In 1902, the quarrymen of Carrara extracted the best
work contract at the time in Italy. In this ambience the advent of Fascism
was an occasion for painful clashes often bloody. So, as it had
been the centre of clandestine opposition during the twenty years of the
Liberation struggle Carrara fought fiercely paying a high price in blood:
the last episode of a long series was the insurrection which forced the
Germans to abandon the city (8-16 April 1945). Among the illustrious of
Carrera is remembered the sculpture Pietro Tacca (1577-1640), the
risorgimental politician Pellegrino Rossi (1787-1848), the geographic
historian Emanuele Repetti (1776-1852).
Places to visit: Piazza Alberica, opened in 1500s
by Alberico I, it is the most beautiful space in the city; it is surrounded
by nobles’ palaces from the 16-1700s and has a precious pavement
inlaid with marble. Accademia delle Belle Arti, hosted
in the vast construction by Alberico ! encompassing a preceding Medieval
castle. Over the centuries it has undergone diverse modifications
and enlargements. Important is the collection of plaster casts comprising
numerous original models. Via S. Maria, the most characteristic
road of the Medieval nucleus. It is flanked by antique houses in one
of which lived il Petrarca in the 1300s then Emanuele Repetti.
Civic Museum of Marble, where there are many Apuane marbles,
together with the principal aspects of the excavations and of the
transport. Il Duomo, started in XI century and finished
in the 1300s, it is completely covered by white and grey marble. On
the principal façade a splendid rose window stands out. The
interior other than the 13-1400s frescoes preserves the pulpit and
the Holy water fount in marble from the XVI century, and a spectacular
hexagonal tank sculpted from a single block of marble. Madonna
delle Grazie, 1600 church with a single nave interior in Baroque
style. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford |