OH MY GOSH, I WENT CRAZY RACKING MY BRAIN OVER THE ORIGIN OF THIS MARBLE...
I KNEW IT WAS PART OF THE VERY NOBLE ITALIAN “MACCHIA VECCHIA” FAMILY OF BRECCIAS, BUT SOMETHING DIDN'T ADD UP...
ITS COLOR, TOO “ROPEY” (OR TAUPE, IF YOU PREFER), THE ALMOST TOTAL ABSENCE OF RED FRETTING, SO FREQUENT IN THE “NORMAL” MACCHIA VECCHIA (WHICH IS THE SWISS ONE, THE ONLY ONE UNIVERSALLY KNOWN AND ALSO THE MOST QUARRIED) AND SOMETHING ELSE THAT I CAN'T EVEN EXPLAIN, A FEELING OF NOT RIGHT, NOT SQUARE, SOMETHING INTANGIBLE AND ELUSIVE...
THEN, A FEW DAYS AGO, A DEALER FROM CARRARA COMES TO MY WAREHOUSE, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS OCTOGENARIAN FATHER, AND WHILE THE SON AND I WERE DISCUSSING PRICES, DELIVERY TIMES, AND MODES OF RESTORATION, THE FATHER WAS REVIEWING MY FIREPLACES, CARESSING THEM AND SPEAKING ALOUD (MORE TO HIMSELF THAN TO US) DECLAIMING THE NAMES OF THE VARIOUS MARBLES... HAVING ARRIVED IN FRONT OF THIS FIREPLACE.... “VAL D'ADIGE, TRENTO, MACCHIA VECCHIA...”
IN MY LITTLE HEAD, A BURST: BEHOLD, NOW IT ALL FIT TOGETHER, THAT OLD STAIN HAD “OUR” COLORS, MUTED AND ELEGANT, AND NOT THOSE, SO MUCH USED AND OFTEN OVERBEARING, OF THE SWISS BRECCIA...
SEVERAL ITS RESTORATIONS (TO THOSE WHO WILL BUY THIS FIREPLACE I WILL SHOW PHOTOGRAPHS OF HOW WE FOUND IT), RESTORATIONS MADE NECESSARY IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO ASSEMBLE IT, RESTORATIONS HOWEVER ALL CARRIED OUT WITH THE UTMOST RESPECT FOR ITS PRESERVATION AND UNIQUENESS. LOMBARD PROVENANCE (IT WAS IN A HOUSE IN THE CENTER OF CREMONA), EPOCH FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AFTER EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY AND BAROQUE STYLISM, MARBLE BRECCIA CALLED “MACCHIA VECCHIA” OF VAL D'ADIGE QUARRY, OBVIOUSLY TODAY THIS QUARRY IS CLOSED.
