The marble road

In grand images, the film tells the story of the quarrymen of Carrara. The harsh and dangerous work has often influenced their daily lives over generations. The white stone, symbol of purity and power, has dominated the valleys beyond Carrara for centuries. They struggled with it, countless numbers died, and for a long time work in the quarries was considered murderous, comparable to one of the songs from Dante’s “Inferno”. The strongest carried steel cables up the mountain,

Standing at the summit, the impression is tremendous and overwhelming. Thousands of quarrymen eat their way into this hardest of stone in the many quarries, famous, since Michelangelo himself searched here for material for his statues.

It was always a tough job, demanding everything from the men.

weighing up to two-and-a-half hundredweight, on their shoulders. In the taverns, in the valleys and down in Carrara, stories are recounted, stories of incredible hardship and incredible pride.

It is a men’s world that this film tells of. To this day they remain strong as bulls and untamed: wild, hot-tempered and proud. Their ancestor is Michelangelo, who opened up new quarries with his own hands in the 16th century. The protagonists of the film also talk about him. But most of all they tell of their work and their lives along the marble road, of their struggle with this hard stone, of the dangers of being killed. It has been that way for centuries, and for centuries it has been woman’s lot to wait for the men to return, fearing all the while that they may not.