Welcome to the Italian Trade Commission Information Center
Italy – the World Hub for Quality Stone and Craftsmanship There are many works of art by Italians that are not found in Museums. Since the dawn of civilization, Italians have created and exported some of their most lasting works of art in Natural Stone: statues, floors, balustrades, columns, countertops stairs, facades and other architectural elements that are found in buildings around the world. The craftsmanship of Italian stone industry workers has been well respected around the world for centuries. This skill and dedication are one of the reasons that Italy is the hub of the international block trading industry. Italian stone materials are world-renowned for their beautiful, wide range of colors and sizes and the country has long been one of the world’s leading producers of raw materials. Italian marble varieties come in a wide range of colors and textures like the white and veined varieties efrom the Apuan Alps in Tuscany. The the green colored varieties include from Aosta Valley and Lombardy; the beige materials from Puglia (Serpeggiante and Trani), from Sicily (Perlato) and Lombardy (Botticino); The Veneto region is rich in several types of colored stone such as red (Rosso Verona, Breccia Pernice, Rosso Magnaboschi) and pink (Nembro Rosato) marble; Portoro and Rosso Levanto are excavated in Liguria. Other colored materials include the Tuscan Arabescato, Orobici, Breccia Medicea and Fior di Pesco Carnico.The most important deposits of Travertine, also a well known Italian stone, are found around Tivoli, Rome, Grosseto and Siena, all in central Italy. Pink and gray Sardinian granites are famous throughout the world for their homogeneity. The pink Baveno granite comes from Piedmont. Other volcanic rocks, such as Peperino and Basaltina are quarried in the Lazio region.