62 



PROC. COTTESWOLD CLUB 



VOL. XIII. 



these quarries can only be approached by the skilled 

 mountaineers who work them. A steep climb of another 

 500 feet brought us to Derville s cava* This produces 

 the ordinary clear white Carrara marble, called " Marmo 

 Siciliano," used for common statuary and architecture, its 

 fine grain resisting the action of the weather. On the 

 left is a valley containing the Cava del Po/vaccio, whence 

 came the marble for Trajan's Column at Rome, and for 

 the Pantheon (temp. Agrippa, B.C. 26). The fineness of 

 the grain, its purity and slight opaqueness adapt it for 

 statuary purposes. Here Michael Angelo, who explored 

 the Versigha district in 1565, is reported often to have 

 turned his steps. And the marble for his masterpiece, 

 the statue of Moses, well known to visitors in Rome from 

 its position before the Church of St. Peter, is said to have 

 been brought hence. 



After lunching at Ravaccione, we returned to the 

 Stazione Torano, and walked pp the Piastra valley, visit- 

 ing the quarries on either side. A feature here was very 

 noticeable, one which we afterwards saw in the other 

 valleys : the road had been cut through a mass of drift. 

 Large and small rounded pebbles and boulders, consisting 

 principally of angular blocks of thin-bedded limestone, 

 were mixed up here and there with some of a diiferent kind, 

 in one case a large green schistose boulder resting on a 

 bluish, dense, crystalline rock, with occasional white bands 

 approaching the marble structure. This drift stretched 

 across the valley, but has since been cut through by the 

 stream, now a mere rivulet, dry in the summer, which 

 must formerly have descended in much greater volume 

 from the watershed above, cutting out the valleys and 

 bearing with it the various materials through which it ran 

 its course. 



The quarries belong to different owners, and are called after their names. 



