top of page
Writer's pictureAlessandro Cragnolini

In Focus: Aurisina marbles.

Updated: Dec 3, 2020

A glimpse into the Italian grey marbles of Aurisina.


A bit of context

Aurisina marbles are grey natural stones quarried from the Karst, a plateau overlooking the city of Trieste, located in the North East of Italy on the northernmost point of the Mediterranean Sea.

From a scientific standpoint, these are geologically classified as "limestones", though, in light of their hardness, industry professionals commercially define them as "marbles" to distinguish them from "soft limestones", highlighting the fact that they can be processed and used the same way of what, strictly speaking, is called "marble".



Selections

At the moment of writing this post, the main varieties of Aurisina marbles that we quarry are:


* the following images are only to give a general idea about colour and veining



Quarry

Aurisina marbles come from an open-pit quarry whose benches are identified by means of diamond wire cuts and then tipped.


At the time of writing the present post, our quarrying takes place on three different levels:

- the middle for Aurisina Lumachella

- the upper for Aurisina Fiorita


When hitting the ground, these benches break into unshaped blocks of stone that "follow" the natural cracks that run through the quarry. At this stage, we cut them into blocks.



Blocks

Once cut using wire or chain cutter machines, we obtain squared raw blocks of various sizes.

This is the first marketable product of Aurisina marble.

Normally, our blocks are squared off by ensuring the highest possible degree of colour and pattern consistency.




Slabs

At this point, we can cut blocks into slabs that are characterised by a:

- thickness (two and three centimetres are the most common)

- size (given by the product of the length and the height of the block)

- finish (sawn cut, polished, honed, brushed, bush-hammered, sandblasted and many more).



Tiles

Eventually, we can produce tiles, also known as cut-to-size, by cutting slabs or blocks.

These are characterised by a thickness, a finish and a size (the last one can either correspond to one of the several standards or be custom).

In most cases, this is the final marketable product of Aurisina marble, ready to install.


Applications

Aurisina marbles can be used both indoor and outdoor for projects in architecture and design as well as furniture items, scultpures and other decorative elements.

In light of the hardness of such stones, their surface can be processed in a variety of finishes to achieve different aesthetic goals and match other materials.



Do you want to explore the possibilities offered by Aurisina marbles further?

Think of technical data, case studies, quotations. Click here and get in touch!


Sources:

- Herz, N & Waelkens, M 1988, Classical Marble: Geochemistry, Technology, Trade, Nato ASI Series, Series E, Vol. 153, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands.

278 views2 comments

Recent Posts

See All

2 Comments


Rajasthan Lime
Rajasthan Lime
Sep 12

your blog is so informative and easy to understand thank you so much sharing this information, while you searching for quick lime manufacturers in india i provide the best limestone solutions i nindia

Like

hisalef
Dec 03, 2020

We need to make our body flexible. Therefore, suggest to do exercise daily. So that we can get tile removal machine hire Newcastle change in our body. We can perform multiple tasks with flexible body. We feel good if we are relaxed and fit.

Like
bottom of page