The Cost of Mining Carrara Marble

"Centuries of quarrying stone from more than 650 sites have significantly impacted the environment," Blaine Brownell writes.

Entering a subterranean marble mine. Blaine Brownell

Carrara is synonymous with material perfection. The Tuscan town of about 60,000 on the western coast of Italy is home to one of the most venerated material histories in art and architecture. Carrara marble has been extracted for more than two millennia—since the Roman Empire first occupied this territory along the foothills of the Apuan Alps. As a result, more marble has been harvested from this region than anywhere on the planet.