In touch with Calacatta Crestola marble

What is Calacatta Crestola

Calacatta Crestola is a type of marble extracted from the Apuan Alps, in Italy. It has the particularity of having earthy veins that emerge from the gray tones and make it look painted. This material expands the Calacatta family of the Italian company Franchi Umberto Marmi, becoming a centralizing protagonist of elegance and style.

In touch with Franchi Umberto Marmi’s Calacatta Crestola

Accepting the company’s invitation, I literally went inside Franchi Umberto Marmi’s Calacatta Crestola, in Torano (Tuscany). After a climb in a 4×4 jeep, I entered the quarry gallery. Together with the company’s technical experts, I witnessed the extraction dynamics live. Here whoever cuts the marble does a job of extreme precision, which also leads to an optimization of the subsequent processing phases.

Thanks to the aid of highly advanced technologies, the marble blocks are extracted, minimizing the possibility of waste or deterioration of the piece, while still guaranteeing a high quality of marble.

After extraction, the pieces are placed in a sort of vacuum with innovative procedures that allow the natural stone to be compacted. And if some blocks should have internal natural cracks, these would be completely recovered thanks to a filling action. The slab obtained will therefore keep the indelible mark of nature but will be usable in its entirety. Nothing is thrown away from the extracted material.

Chromatic characteristics of Calacatta Crestola marble

From a chromatic point of view, the Crestola has nuances ranging from beige to brown with beautiful warm rust-colored tones that pass through it. It has longitudinal streaks and wider backgrounds of grays that meet earthy tones. A real painting of nature, engraved on living stone.

The new sensibility of marble

The international demand for marble over the years has become increasingly attentive and very selective, especially from the markets which are the major importers. Mining meticulousness and sensitivity have therefore become indicators of a new business philosophy. With Franchi Umberto Marmi I met an impeccable company in operational work and in the conception of work as a process of entrepreneurial actions.

The company’s value proposition was aimed at enhancing the territory, through virtuous actions involving young people, students, moments of aggregation, sport, art, culture and the entire marble supply chain.

Visiting a marble quarry

Visiting a gallery inside a marble quarry was a suggestive and very intimate experience. I felt the contact with the living matter of Calacatta Crestola and the soul of nature within which I was. Here the marble is bare and intact, with its natural veins that almost extend a hand to us who observe. It was like looking at the belly of the world and discovering its true meaning.

An artistic marble

A memorable experience that I had previously seen as a “finished product” at the Marmomac fair in Verona. Here the Calacatta Crestola was posted as if it were an artwork by the best artist around: nature.

Inside their exhibition space, created by Interni Now studio, every detail suggested attachment to a glorious past tradition but also extreme caution and a vision of the future.

Article in collaboration with Franchi Umberto Marmi