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SOME HISTORY
Man has been present in the whole area which surrounds the
Apuane Alps since ancient times. The findings testify that man lived
in the north-western part of Tuscany in the Palaeolithic era. When
the Etruscan and the Romans came to conquer these peaks, they had
to affront the resistance of a fierce population of warriors, the
Apuane Ligurians.
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Only
in 174 b.C. the Romans managed to defeat the Apuane Ligurians, and
it was during the expansion of the Roman Empire that the Romans started
to extract marble. From this very moment the history the Apuane Alps
and the coast of Versilia goes hand in hand as the marble extracted
in the Apuane Alps was shipped from the coast to the workshops of
the main artists who turned it into masterpieces of sculpture and
architecture.
The Apuane Alps and the Versilia remained colonies of the Empire
until the arrival of the Longobards, around 640 a.C., when all the
main Roman settlements were abandoned.
From the 11th century the coast of Versilia was contended by
Florence, Pisa, Lucca and Genoa which all wanted to control the strategic
area. The destiny of the Apuane Alps followed the one of the Versilia,
as it was the only harbour in the surroundings. The battles continued
until the 15th century when the political climate became more and
more relaxed. In the 16th century Lucca managed to increase its importance
and extended it to the Apuane inland.
In the following centuries under the Medici family and when
the Apuane Alps became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the marble
extraction continued to be the main activity of the area. During the
flourishing Renaissance the Apuane marble was used to build the most
beautiful monuments of Florence, the city which during the 16th century
reached its political and artistic peak. The Florentine monuments,
the works of its most famous artists such as Michelangelo, indirectly
witness the importance of the extraction activity in the north-western
area of Tuscany.
The marble extraction continued after the unification of Italy
and the technological innovations after WWII have intensified the
labour and increased the security conditions of the workers. Today
there are about 400 active quarries, with more than 2000 workers.
The extraction activity gives work to almost 8000 people and the request
of marble is increasing constantly. But the environment suffers. The
landscape of the Apuane Alps and the coast of Versilia is signed by
the extraction.
The white stripes of marble, the quarries and the roads leading
to and from them characterise the area and threaten to invade the
virgin forests on the top of the mountains.
The environmental movement has started questioning the wild extraction
which risks to destroy the environment. The problem has not been solved,
but at least it has generated the creation of the Parco delle Alpi
Apuane (the Park of the Apuane Alps). |
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