Andrea Palladio. “… e sopra quelle vi sono i granari”

This book has been sponsored by Marmi Faedo, a company that ‘cultivates’ and nurtures a marble quarry in Spagnago di Cornedo Vicentino, in the Province of Vicenza, safeguarding land and nature with professionalism and thoroughly investigated eco-sustainable criteria. When the company applied for the regional authorisation for the tenyear renewal of the quarrying of architecture material, it also set up a project to redevelop the entire area through successive phases of organisation, sorting and reforestation of the areas that had been artificially modified by human’s work. Marmi Faedo has also preserved the existing ‘edges’ of the surrounding woods, creating a perimeter band that protects the quarry from the valley floor up to the hill in which it is excavated. The working area is thus a sort of “stone nest” shielded by the vegetation of the wooded ridge. The challenge was to accompany the human’s work with new, coherent and integrated landscape values: an expression of ethical and cultural values that create a direct synergy between the architectural culture of stone and the culture of a landscape that has been modified and reshaped by a proper hillside restoration. The inner walls of the “cavea-quarry” show stone steps, the results of excavations over time; the oldest part, which had been excavated by hand, will be left exposed to suggest the idea of a marble “cathedral” from which a strong, “Gothic-like” verticality rises. This publication is dedicated to the latest generation of the Faedo family as a sign of generational continuity that emphasises the hard work, dedication and passion required to work stone, but also the satisfaction for the beauty of things and the profound sense of continuity in history.