1MA26 Cave di marmo

XXIV Alfredo Catarsini Regional Award 2026
The memory of the territory in the Path of Catarsini’s places

General description of the work: Scene in a stone quarry constructed with a bottom-up perspective,
which accentuates the verticality of the walls painted with a gradation of
colors ranging from white to ochre, through brown and moss green.
This is a
vertical bas-relief in statuary marble, measuring 44 x 32 cm, which reinterprets the
painting Marble Quarries by Alfredo Catarsini (1960, oil on canvas, 78 x 60 cm), exhibited here.

Guided tactile exploration:
•⁠ ⁠Explore the edges with both hands to perceive the scale of the work.

•⁠ ⁠Starting from the top, run your fingertips from right to left; you will feel
clear, sharp reliefs: the broken lines of mountain ridges. Follow them as
they descend along the ridges until they encounter a new pattern of rocks.

•⁠ ⁠In the center, the lines intertwine, becoming denser and more inclined. These rough
marble lines represent the strength and difficulty of the rock face.

•⁠ ⁠Continuing downward, you will encounter other ridges and grooves that rise from
right to left, completing the design of the mountain. In this section,
the workmanship of the marble becomes denser and more complex, symbolizing man’s attempt
to shape nature.

•⁠ ⁠At the bottom right, the small figure of a quarryman emerges from behind: he is holding
a pole and is positioned between two “Pontaux” and below two tensioned cables or ropes
that connect the pylons diagonally via two pulleys.

Technical note: The pontaux are metal pylons that, using pulleys and a helical
wire, were used in quarries until the 1970s for cutting and
extracting marble blocks.
Compared to the majesty of the wall, the worker appears almost swallowed up by the
rock, highlighting the contrast between human fragility and the vastness of the
mountain. The work thus invites us to discover, through touch, both the strength of
nature and the harshness of the quarrying process.

Further information:
The work was entered into the 24th edition of the Premio Regionale Alfredo Catarsini 2026.

The small block of statuary marble was donated and worked at Henraux S.p.A. in Querceta. The second-year classes of the I SI Marconi in Seravezza, in the hotel and marble department, were involved in this project, specifically the students: Thomas Bartelloni, Alessandro Capurso, Lapo Evangelisti, and Damiano Rossi, supervised by teachers Katia Cirrincione, Francesco Bruschi, and Giovanna Bacci.

The English text was arranged by Professor Malvina Celli.