On Saturday, we decided to go and explore the mountains behind us. I wrote about them when we arrived. They are called the Apuan Alps. See
http://www.michelangelosmountain.com/excerpt.htm. Everyone said that it's good to go and see where the famous Cararra marble actually comes from.
We used our little AVMAP GPS unit to get us going in the right direction. There is a cut-through road between Massa and Cararra, which winds up into the hills a bit. Once in Cararra, we begun to head up into the mountains, on winding little roads. The first big tunnel we came to was full of traffic lights, but no other cars. All of the traffic lights were green, so cautiously I kept my foot on the gas pedal. I felt like I was doing something wrong, but eventually I came out of the tunnel into the bright sunlight.
Now we began to climb upwards, more and more. Lots of chunks of marble on both sides of the road, and switchbacks galore. We stopped for a quick picture at an interesting little "garden" of stone- all sorts of marble statues looking back at us from the road. One looked like caesar. Others might have been dwarves. Animals, too. It reminded me the White Witch's castles from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
When we reached the little town of Colonnata, we had to ride a little bus the final 500 meters, up a very steep road. The driver was sure to pack the bus full. It seems like we could fall right off the side of the mountain, with such a tall bus on such a tiny road. But we made it to the top- now a captive audience in this little town.
We meandered a bit, and looked up towards the big marble mountain above us. Trucks were heading down, heavenly laden with rock- rumbing down the winding roads above. The sun beat down, so we looked for shade. We eventually found it in a little restuarant.
Now, Colonnata is known for it's "Lardo". Lardo is basically cured pig fat. My co-workers agreed that it is actually quite good. So I was game. We asked the nice waiter for a menu, but he spoke no english and only waved his hand, as if to say, "We have no menu". Who knows if he understood. He rattled off in Italiano, and I think I heard the words "bean enchilada", but I must have missed it. So finally, after he realized that I just wasn't following, he had me follow him downstairs to the kitchen. Three nice ladies were working away, and they literally showed me everything that was available. So I tried my best, "Un po di tutto!"- A little of all, hoping that we'd do okay.
We ended up with a huge spread, including no less than seven pig-derived products. Yes- I tried to lardo. It was surprisingly good. Read about
Lardo.
We also enjoyed the pickled antipasti plate- that is, Jess and I. Cami enjoyed a few items. Maisie slept. Ellie just played with her straw, and dipped her bread in her water glass. Hailey didn't like the smell too much, and spent a lot of time peering out the window at another restuarant below.
So, I pounded down way too much meat and cheese. I didn't want it to go to waste-so I kept on eating. And it was good. Plus- I thought, "What will they think of us?"- that is, for not finishing more of the (good) food. "Come on, Jess- eat some more!" I pleaded. Finally, in some ridiculous attempt to make our spread look a bit more picked over, and lest we offend the kind cooks, I grabbed a bunch of meat and stuffed it in a little plastic bag! Jess said, "You will never see these people again in your life!" That didn't matter to me. I snuck the mt out of the restuarant, and threw it away in a garbage can on the main street!
We rode the bus back down to the parking lot, and then drove to the
main marble (marmo) cave, at Fantiscriti. There was marble/rock dust all over, and the sun was now quite warm. I convinced Jess that I would always regret if we didn't go check out the quarry/cave, and she agreed- so we loaded up the bags, backpacks, and kids, and rode another little shuttle bus up to the quarry.
Of course, like much of our time in Italy, figuring out what to do, or where to stand, or how to get something done, is an adventure. We watched as some other families cut in front of us to ride the tour bus into the mountain, and eventually squeezed into one of the next tour buses. Deep in the dark mountain we went, all rumbling over uneven terrain. It reminded Cami and I of the bouncy Indiana Jones ride at D-land.
Inside the cave was very cool. We donned hard hats and actually had a semi-English-speaking guide explain the marble-harvesting methods. Huge columns of pure marble, 50 meters high and just as wide across, were left after the cutting, so that the mountain doesn't collapse! Apparently, engineers determined that columns of this size, and so far apart, is safe. How do they really know? Trial and error? What is remaining is a huge cavern, like the Mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings if you know that book. It was dark and damp and eerily expansive in the cave. Cold air meant the cave was consistently around 55 degrees. We got to yell as a big group, and then enjoy an amazing echo throughout the marble walls. These are the same marble fields where Michaelangelo selected pieces for some of his most famous works, such as the David in Florence, and the Pieta in Rome.
We rewarded the girls for good behavior with the usual helping of gelato down at the beach. The nice lady behind the counter now seems to know us and welcomes us back each time!
