Torano and its marble basin
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The village of Torano
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The quarry of Torano
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You can get to Torano following, for a few hundreds metres, the road which leads from the west side of Carrara to Campocecina and then covering the town road running along the cemetery
of Marcognano.
The village of Torano lies at the foot of two valleys: the smaller one, called of "Pescina-Boccanaglia" and the main one which is positioned to the east of the other. Torano was one of the first Roman settlement and it has preserved its ancient aspect. The village is the birthplace of the sculptor Giandomenico Guidi (1625-1701) and of the great Pietro Tenerani (1789-1869). The S. Maria Assunta is worth visiting, mostly for the 16th century fresco of the foundling's Madonna, which is placed under the major architrave. The 16th century altar shows a fresco representing God's Deposition from the cross. In S. Apollonia's altar a statue of the Saint is kept, which was engraved by Guidi in 1694. We must mention the 16th century frescoed lunette which is placed over the lateral entrance of the church. In the sacristy it is even possible to admire the five 15th century wooden tablets.
In the opposite side of the square there are a fountain and the Baroque oratory of the S. Four Martyrs Sculptors, who are also recalled in a bas-relief inside the small church. Among the heights surrounding the village, it is possible to notice natural caves and ravines (the most famous one is the cave of the tufas), making the place suggestive. This western marble basin has about thirty quarry and the total production amounts to about 27.000 tons a month. The quarried marbles are amongst the most valuable ones: Statuario, Statuario Venato and Calacata.