Carrara

Marble has defined Carrara since ancient times — the white and blue-grey stone quarried from the Apuan Alps above this Tuscan town has supplied sculptors and builders across the world for millennia. Set between the Ligurian Sea and the mountains, the town has a walkable, heritage-dense centre with historic churches and a good café scene, while the nearby coast at Marina di Carrara adds a seaside dimension. Carrara also carries an unexpected political identity: the 1968 Congress of Carrara, held here, founded the International of Anarchist Federations, still active today.

• Population58,666
• Nearest water0.1 km
• Nearest mountain6.4 km
• UNESCO within 50 km7