The Marble of Campiglia: An Historical Cultural Heritage Ornamental Stone from Tuscany, Italy

This paper presents an outline of a historical stone: the Marble of Campiglia, from Tuscany (Italy). A comprehensive review of the literature and archival documents, combined with a new detailed field survey, allowed us to revise the geological setting and exploitation history of this cultural heritage marble, which has been sporadically used since Etruscan times up to the present day. The Campiglia Marittima Marble (CMM) has a thermal-metamorphic origin related to the intrusion of a granitic pluton dated at about 5.4 Ma. This gave rise to a marble with peculiar textural, grain-size, and fracturing features that influenced the cultivation approaches and methods. The main exploitation periods of the CMM as an ornamental stone were the Etruscan-Roman age, the Renaissance, and the nineteenth century; currently, it is used only for industrial purposes. A great number of ancient quarries are located on the western slope of Monte Rombolo, probably due to the high variety of commercial marble types that can be found in the area and to its strategic position with an easy transport way to the Tyrrhenian Sea. This research is aimed to recall to the memory this historical marble and can also support the possible reopening of a few quarries for conservation purposes, for ensuring the Authenticity of the historical artefacts in which it was used.