On Friday we spent an amazing day in Carrara, exploring the city and learning its fascinating history.
If you know of Carrara it’s probably because of their globally famous export: the prized white marble that comes from the immense caves and quarries that cover the mountainside above. The marble is found in the most beautiful buildings the world over and was used in many of the world’s most famous sculptures, such as Michaelangelo’s David.
A lesser known but more important fact is that this region was the birthplace of the Partigiani – the grassroots fighters who defended Italy from the Nazi invasion after the fall of Mussolini in WW2. Statues and memorials throughout the surrounding countryside are dedicated to their heroism and suffering.
What you probably don’t know is the connection between the two: the brutal history of the slaves and serfs who toiled away in those quarries for hundreds of years as the handful of ultrawealthy owners exploited the privately owned mountain at the expense of the locals. Marble mining is inherently dangerous and brutal, all the more so when it’s done with just human and animal labor.
Hundreds of years of exploitation, first by one family then by another, have informed the people of the area in a unique way. They have suffered under local tyrants, then under a King when Italy was unified, then under Fascism, then under a democratic republic. As the people suffered and died in the mines, they watched as the countryside was raped and the wealth transferred to a handful of aristocrats and authoritarians.
These people learned over centuries that it doesn’t matter what label you put on the ruling class, it’s the workers who will always suffer. As a result of their enlightenment, Carrara became a nucleus of a pure form of #Anarchism – which seeks only to eliminate the concept of “ruling classes” – and later, #Antifascism. Statues to champions of labor reform and human rights decorate the city.
The city is rightfully proud of its heritage. Visiting it was a powerful experience. When you see the modern propaganda against anarchism and antifascism, try to consider the true message and history, and ask who’s side you’re really on.
