The stones of medieval buildings in Pisa and Lucca provinces (western Tuscany, Italy); 1, The Monte Pisano marble

During the Middle Ages, the marble from the Monte Pisano quarries was the stone most often used in the construction of religious buildings in the Tuscan cities of Pisa and Lucca. The historical quarries of Monte Pisano marble (MPM) are located near the villages of San Giuliano Terme and Santa Maria del Giudice, about ten kilometres from Pisa and Lucca, respectively. Despite the historical importance of this building material, its varieties, physical properties, chemical and mineralogical compositions, exploitation were almost unknown. Eighty-six samples, collected from nine MPM quarries that once provided this building material, were analysed for their chemical, mineralogical and petrographic characteristics, as well as for some physical-mechanical properties. On the basis of the collected data, an attempt was made to identify the individual source quarries for the most important monuments in and around Pisa and Lucca.