Carrara marble in the Dionysos Theater of the Acropolis in Athens. Carrara marble Carrara marble is a type of white or blue-grey marble of high quality, popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It is quarried in the city of Carrara located in the province of Massa and Carrara in the Lunigiana, the northernmost tip of modern-day Tuscany, Italy. Carrara marble has been used since the time of Ancient Rome. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the marble quarries were monitored by the Cybo and Malaspina families who ruled over Massa and Carrara. The family created the "Office of Marble" in
Matilda of Tuscany innate leadership ability. In an illustration of the Vita Mathildis by the monk Donizo (or, in Italian, Donizone), Matilda is referred to as "Mathildis Lucens" (from Lucca). She was descended from the nobleman Sigifredo of Lucca. Matilda was the youngest of the three children of Margrave Boniface III of Tuscany, ruler of a vast territory in Northern Italy and one of the most powerful vassals of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III. Matilda's mother, Beatrice of Lorraine, was the Emperor's first cousin and closely connected to the imperial household. Renowned for her learning, Matilda was literate in Latin, as well