Peter Schipperheyn Sculptor

The other day Alessandro who is the Grandson of our great friends Joe and Ivorna said to us to come up to the “Cave” (quarry) where he works Cave 89 way up above Fantiscritti, Cinzia and I decided we’d go up and have a look at the quality of the stone coming out of this quarry. To get there you make your way to Fanticscritti ( image coming when I find it) and then you keep climbing and its all in first gear! It is an awesome experience. The road up the mountain gets steeper and steeper, from the drivers seat it began to feel like I was driving on a giant dragons tail, a glance to the side reveals drops of hundred of meters!  To be honest I really began to shit myself! The dust, the savaged landscape, the huge trucks swinging around bends with drops of a hundred meters or more, it is “impressionante”!

We found our way into the quarry and found Alessandro who introduced us to Simone the Capo Cave, who spoke in the slow and deliberate manner of the Cavatore “Carririn”, measured solid like the mountains from which they draw their living from. These men move nonchalantly around the mountains, and it is an environment that to most people would find terrifying! It still is a dangerous job, when people get hurt it is often really bad, so a certain fatalism has been born into these two legged mountain goats. With my feet firmly planted on the marble backbone of these huge outcrops the Apuane Mountains, I felt a surge of emotion I relish being here…I feel part of something raw and powerful, Carrara is a place of tough bastards! As we bid our farewells Simone grabbed a bottle of Aqua Minerale out the back of his 4WD and gave it to us, it was what he had at hand, he wanted to give us something. Every day we experience generosity, acts of kindness that make being in Italy amazing!

With Simone “Capo Cave” young man who runs the quarry. Looking at these images they do not convey how steep the roads are, you really should make a trip yourself here one day!