Demand for white marble from the Italian city of Carrara has been steadily increasing, as orders for marble blocks and slabs have increased for the construction of new mosques and palaces in the Gulf states.
China's young tycoons are also big customers. Carrara's quarries began working more than 2.000 years ago. With the advancement of technology, extracting large quantities of marble has become easier compared to the past. But not everyone is satisfied.
There are significant environmental concerns as a result of the destruction of hillsides and entire mountains. Voice of America, Sabina Castelfranco visited the quarries in Carrara and brought more details.
The mountains surrounding the town of Carrara look like they are covered in snow. But the whiteness is not a reflection of a fluid material, but of a solid stone, for the excavation of which sharp saws and heavy equipment are used.
Carrara marble is one of the greatest natural wonders in the world and its beauty makes you not surprised to learn that the demand for it is so high for the construction of mosques, the decoration of houses and various works of art.
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Less than four years ago the Saudi bin Laden Group, the third largest construction company in the world, bought 50 percent of Marmi Carrara, one of the largest marble firms, which owns a third of quarries in the area.
Inside these quarries, workers mine marble all year round, except for 15 days in August when it gets too hot to work here. The marble is then shipped worldwide.
And just as it drew Michelangelo to create the famous statues of David and Piet, today's artists, sculptors and architects make regular pilgrimages to Carrara to select what they say is the finest marble in the world.
American sculptor MJ Anderson first came here 36 years ago.
“The marble here is consistently good, doesn't break and digs very cohesively. There are no surprises while carving it. The molecules are very well put together, and there are so many types of marble here. This is the specialty of the marble in this area. So a sculptor can find everything he wants here."
Anderson says there is a huge demand now for this precious resource, especially in the Middle East.
China, with its growing economy, is another big customer. Carrara attracts students like 19-year-old Xintong Gao, who has come a long way for an exciting experience at the Academy of Fine Arts.
"I really like art. I like carving, painting. I want to go to this school. I like my teacher. I like everything here."
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Working with marble is not easy for student Xintong Gao. It certainly has never been easy for those who work inside these quarries almost every day throughout their lives.
Today, there are more than 80 quarries from which hundreds of thousands of tons of marble are extracted annually. Environmentalists are not happy about this. They remind the world that Italy's "white gold" is not an endless resource and have called for stricter measures against quarries. They say that excessive marble extraction causes unwanted and possibly dangerous changes to the landscape and natural mountains.
