From Lucca, we took an excursion to Carrara to visit the marble quarries. The town of Carrara was originally uilt by the ancient Romans to house workers in the nearby quarries. Now one can see the post office and other government buildings with marble statues in front and with marble sidewalks:
Getting to the quarries was a rough ride on 4 wheels drive jeeps. One can see the marble caves on top:
When we got to the top, we then see the mining operations below, including a view of the "Michelangelo Valley" where the artist selected the marble for his David sculpture. In the old days, everything was done manually and with the help of mules for transportation. How incredible!
We tasted the local produced "lardo", a delicacy consisting of thin layers of pig's fat aged/fermented in marble tubs with sea salt and spices such as rosemary, black pepper, garlic, cinnamon, and star anise. The brine/fermentation (for 181 days) was said to convert the bad fat to good fat healthy for miner's body.
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