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 utilized from Etruscan times to the present day. The Campiglia Marittima Marble (CMM) has a thermal-metamorphic origin associated with the intrusion of a granitic pluton dated to approximately 5.4 Ma. This process gave rise to a marble with peculiar textural, grain size, and fracturing characteristics that influenced extraction techniques and methodologies. The primary exploitation periods of the CMM as an ornamental stone were the Etruscan-Roman era, the Renaissance, and the nineteenth century; currently, it is used exclusively for industrial purposes. A significant number of ancient quarries are located on the western slope of Monte Rombolo, likely attributable to the high variety of commercial marble types available in the area and its strategic location, which facilitated transport routes to the Tyrrhenian Sea. This research aims to bring attention to this historical marble and may support, alongside the potential reopening of selected quarries for restoration purposes, the preservation of the authenticity of the historical artefacts in which it was employed.