From the quarrymen of Mount Corchia to the artisans of Pietrasanta (Lu), to the world-famous sculptors who wander undisturbed through the streets of the Versilian town, there is a distinctive trait that unites their appearance: the hands.Stocky, robust, calloused.There is no doubt that even those of Michelangelo were like this, when in the sixteenth century like a cat he climbed the paths of these mountains in search of the best marbles.In these places over the centuries the morphological nature of the territory has become a tradition.Tradition has become art.And art has given prestige and quality to this land, which today is recognized worldwide as the cradle of marble and artistic craftsmanship that works it with unique mastery.The academics know this, who founded the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara in 1769.And the artists know this, especially the sculptors, who find not only the best materials in Pietrasanta and its surroundings, but also the most renowned craftsmen from all over the world.In these places famous names such as Botero and Mitoraj have established their professional home.From some of the shops in these alleys, works destined to enter eternity will leave for Moscow, Tokyo, New York, Paris or Shanghai.THE CAVE.But the process starts from afar.You have to climb about 1,500 meters above the sea level.This is where it all started, for centuries.The “shining stone” was quarried at this altitude, where the peaks of the Apuan Alps are shrouded in fog.The marble "dens" are like cities dug into the mountain.And taming a mountain is not easy, on the contrary.It is a hard, noisy, reckless task.Like the work of the quarrymen, expert stone cultivators, who know how to enter the rock, how to dig it and how to manage it, respecting the environment and the ecosystem.From a shapeless and insidious mass they cut the marble into blocks and then carry it downstream.Today, technology makes transportation easier.But once this was done by the lisers, who with ropes and poles accompanied the heavy white and square boulders to the sea.In these areas, some of the finest varieties of marble in the world are extracted, the Arabescato Corchia and the Venato Statuario.The quarries are the real engine of the economy of this land.And there are many of these white gold mines.But one of these is not like the others.The Piastraio quarry, in fact, is one of the extraction sites of the Condomini Levigliani cooperative, which in its origins hides one of the most exciting cooperative experiences in post-war history.It is a community of families who have lived for generations thanks to mining and who, in the 1950s, at the end of a long legal battle, redeemed the quarries of Mount Corchia from the previous owner, becoming the owner.The cooperative has capitalized on this talent.He managed and administered the immense assets very sparingly, reinvesting the profits for the benefit of the mountain communities of the area who work there, creating jobs and wealth for all, without ever selling off and disqualifying the product.With the result that today these small villages retain a very distant image from many small Italian villages in the process of being abandoned.They are cheerful, active, inhabited and full of young people.This is a story that, like a block of marble, has acquired a socio-economic value of gigantic importance, so much so that in 2008 the founders of the cooperative were appointed Cavalieri del Lavoro by the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano.FROM NATURE TO ART.Pietrasanta is an amazing town.An artistic heritage of inestimable value is concentrated in a small agglomeration of streets.Botero, Mitoraj, Messina, Folon, Moore and many others have passed this way and left their mark.Their works decorate many corners of the city.The Piazza del Duomo, then, is an exciting open-air itinerary in the history of art.A stretch of the Medici era coexists in a delicate balance, with the Collegiate Church of San Martino and its bell tower, dated 14th century, and the itinerant sculptures of contemporary art: in these days Gustavo Velez (in the photo on the right with Adolfo Agolini) , with his works of marble, bronze and steel, with sharp and tapered shapes.Before him Botero with his pot-bellied and sinuous subjects.Here they expose these names.And there is a reason why Pietrasanta is considered the city of great artists.To find out, just turn to its artisans, who represent the artist's ace up his sleeve in the production chain of art.Versilia is the homeland of marble, it is true.But these masters also deal with bronze, silver, steel, ceramics and iron with great skill.And the most disparate techniques work, from mosaic, to foundry, from inlay to art printing.It is about artistic craftsmanship, a flagship of made in Italy artistic manufacturing, which in Versilia, and in Pietrasanta in particular, has one of its main bastions in terms of experience and tradition.«Here the artisans know how to keep the eyes of flies - explains Adolfo Agolini, president of the Artigianart association, the body that represents this productive fabric - here the artists find a sort of supermarket.They have the best workers at their disposal.Not only.If they have to commission a job, they have the possibility to choose between various shops in the same sector, all in the same place, without having to go elsewhere.All the best, close at hand, this is a great convenience for them ».And it happens that while you are walking around his workshop, Gustavo Velez arrives, to give his last tips to the craftsman for a work.You ask him: "What does it mean to work with a craftsman from Pietrasanta?"."Here are the number one," he replies dryly.THE TERRITORY AND THE MUSE.From Pietrasanta to Forte dei Marmi to Massa Carrara, Versilia is the custodian of a great wealth of artistic experiences, stories, culture and examples of resourcefulness at the service of the territory.Just think, in addition to the Condomini Levigliani cooperative, to the Ugo Guidi House Museum, in Forte dei Marmi, once the home of the great Tuscan sculptor and today a small domestic museum, directed by his son Vittorio.Here the production of the artist who died in '77 is collected: sculptures and paintings that have traveled the world, but which have always returned "home", where they are jealously guarded by the community, available to the public, and intended to preserve the memory of a great Versilian artist.To preserve, tell and convey to the world this heritage of stories and excellence and to make known, above all, the intriguing world of marble, the Chamber of Commerce of Lucca has set up a synergy with various institutional, entrepreneurial and artistic partners, which is resulted in the project of the Musa, the virtual museum of sculpture and architecture.A real representative house of the workers and artists, in which the Versilian territory is told through its past and its present.It does so through virtual content, videos and images, which give way to a suggestion: this is Michelangelo's marble, this is Pietrasanta, the city of artists and artisans, this is the home of excellence."A technique of so-called artistic marketing - explains Massimo Marsili, manager of the Promotion and development area for companies of the Chamber of Commerce of Lucca - to promote the skills and peculiarities of our territory in Italy and abroad".An experiment that manifests an intuition, as one of the formulas coined by Cesare Monti, the curator of the last exhibition set up at the Musa, entitled Leggera Materia, states: «The past must be so present as to become the future».From 22 September to 22 January Palazzo Strozzi presents "Nel tuo Tempo" the exhibition dedicated to Olafur EliassonAt Palazzo Stagianò the first edition of Chiaravalle arte.Founded in 1955, Documenta in Kassel is today considered the ...