Collection: Quartz on Marble from Carrara

Carrara lies in the Apuan Alps of Tuscany, home to the world’s most famous marble, quarried since Roman times and once chosen by Michelangelo himself. This marble began as Jurassic limestone, recrystallized by the heat and pressure of the Alpine orogeny. Hydrothermal fluids then seeped into its fractures and cavities and deposited exceptionally clear, doubly terminated quartz.

The crystals grow on marble, and the host rock and companion minerals, commonly dolomite and calcite, are often a clean, bright white that sets off the crystals’ clarity. Loose crystals without matrix are found as well. It is one of Italy’s recognized mineral classics.