Duchy of Massa and Carrara 1851, thanks to the English engineer and tycoon William Walton. In 1846 the Count Francesco del Medico proposed to the Duke Francis V the construction of the Marble Railway of Carrara, to link the marble quarries to the sea and thereby facilitating the transport of blocks to the areas for sorting, loading, and shipping. This project was also suspended for lack of funds. The Marble Railway was finally built after the Italian unification (1871–1890). In the last years of the duchy, an increasing number of clashes was seen between the liberals and the ducal government, especially in Carrara. The territory
Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (), also known as The Lives (), is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-century Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari, which is considered "perhaps the most famous, and even today the most-read work of the older literature of art", "some of the Italian Renaissance's most influential writing on art", and "the first important book on art history". The title is often abridged to just the "Vite" or the "Lives". It was first published in two editions with substantial differences