Carrara Marble Quarries and Colonnata Lard Tasting Private Shore Excursion from Livorno

After meeting your professional driver at the cruise ship terminal or at your accommodation, you’ll be driven in a 4×4 to the famed Carrara Marble quarries. Carrara, located in the Tuscan region, harbors one of the most prominent marble quarries in Europe. Carrara marble is used throughout the world for a variety of purposes, and it has been dubbed “white gold” in several publications.

From the first quarries, you’ll make your way to the Apuan Alps, a mountain range in the north of Tuscany. There, you’ll visit one of the region’s ancient quarries, as harsh conditions and erosion turned the surrounding mountains into the very Carrara marble for which the city is known.

Then, you’ll reach Colonnata, where you’ll be able to indulge your taste buds with a breakfast of Lardo di Colonnata, a famous traditional breakfast of quarry workers. Lardo di Colonnata is a rich dish of cured pig’s back fat, a succulent meat made with an ancient technique to preserve the meat and the fat of the animal. Served in thin slices, the dish melts on your tongue or a piece of hot, grilled bread.

From the village, you’ll conclude your tour with a visit into a quarry carved into the side of a mountain at the basin of Fantiscritti, the marble railway and Vara bridges, and return back to the cruise terminal or your accommodation after an exciting day of 4×4 touring.