Inside Italy's coveted marble quarries where artists like Michelangelo traveled for the finest materials

"Is that snow?" my partner said one morning during a summer Mediterranean cruise as we opened our cabin's curtains to see a wide view of the Apuan Alps in Carrara, Italy. 

"No, it's marble," I said, smiling, because if I hadn't done my research, I would have thought the same thing. 

The mountain range is home to the marble basin of Carrara in Tuscany. The marble in the Apuan Alps has been used since the Roman Empire for buildings and sculptures, according to UNESCO.

Today, it's home to several marble quarries, and I got to see them for myself.

For my Mediterranean cruise last month, I booked an excursion with Carrara Marble Tour to see the mountain range lined with marble quarries up close. 

During the tour, I learned that Carrara is among the most coveted marble in the world, and the guide explained exactly why.

"The marble from Greece and China has very big crystals. It's too hard," he said. "The marble from Turkey has very small crystals. So it's easier to work with, but it's too fragile. Carrara is the right compromise."

Although it's easier to work with than other forms of marble, another reason the material is so coveted is because of all the time and effort that goes into cutting it and transporting it from the mountain range to countries around the world, he said. 

The mountain range also has preservation methods in place limiting the amount of marble that can be taken from it, he added. 

The Apuan Alps in northwest Tuscany spread over 150 miles, including the province of Carrara, according to UNESCO.

Before my cruise, I did some research about Carrara marble and learned that Michelangelo used the coveted material to make some of his sculptures, including the famous Apollo-David statue, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  

Michelangelo spent his time in Carrara choosing specific cuts of marble from the quarries with custom orders about their sizes and shapes, according to the same source. 

With this information, I was excited to see the historic marble for myself. 

The Carrara marble industry is worth $1 billion and a slab can cost up to $400 per square meter, Business Insider reported in 2019.

More recently, Italics Magazine reported that the industry made about $22 million in the first three months of 2022. 

Our tour guide said that the marble is cut into different sizes and is used for a wide variety of products, including countertops, tiles, and even toothpaste. 

When my cruise ship stopped in Carrara, I disembarked at 9 a.m. to meet my tour group at the dock, where our tour guide picked us up in a 4x4 jeep.

As we ascended the mountain, we saw open-air active quarries lining the mountain cliffs. There are 30 of them on this road, according to my tour guide. 

Part of the way through the trip, we stopped at the tour center's gift shop, where we borrowed orange vests and yellow hard hats to keep us safe at the quarries.

The tour's website also suggests wearing comfortable shoes. I wore a pair of Vans sneakers and had no problem walking around the quarry in them. 

As soon as we got out of the car at one of the quarries, I knew that this mountain range was unlike any I'd been to before just by the sounds.

Typically, hiking through mountains is a relatively quiet experience, save for the whispering wind, chirping birds, and my boots hitting the ground. But in the Apuan Alps, I heard the constant beeps and mechanical sounds of drilling all around me. 

Cutting one huge piece of marble takes about four days, our tour guide said. And then he explained exactly how the marble is cut and transported. 

First, workers use a machine to stab into the marble and cut the bottom portion of the slab. At this quarry, the first cut usually is about 50 feet long and 10 feet deep.

Then, they use a drilling machine to make a vertical hole from the top of the slab to the bottom of the slab. These two cuts take two days.

Then they repeat the process on the other side of the slab over the next two days. 

Once the marble is cut on all sides, workers insert a long, metal cable into the holes in the marble and use machines to pull it off of the mountain.

The perfect slab weighs 35 tons and has no cracks, the tour guide said. 

Once the marble is cut out of the mountain, workers place a soft, sand cushion on the bottom of a truck bed to protect the marble. Then, they hook the slab to a machine that lowers it onto the truck bed. The truck drives down the mountain for the marble to be transported.

Carrara marble is sent around the world, from Rome to Beijing, The New York Times reported.

The work that goes on at the marble quarries seems like a very challenging task, in my opinion. After seeing it for myself, I understood what our guide meant when he said this material is so coveted.

I'm not at a place in my life where I can afford the luxuries of Carrara marble in my kitchen. But one day, I hope to own some for myself. And I'll have a sincere appreciation for the work that went into it.