Quarried in Italy, Nero Portoro marble is naturally elegant.
Its appearance makes it suitable for very decorative and artistic achievements of merit such as vases, columns, interiors of churches and palaces, paneling, flooring and furniture plans. The color is deep black and bright with golden veins. Geologically this is a limestone era liassic carbonate veins with a limonite formed in a marine environment calm, deep, poorly oxygenated and rich in organic matter. The black color is due precisely to the abundance of organic matter while the golden streaks to the partial dolomitization of organic matter that has oxidized. In addition to color, even the microcrystalline structure due to the processes dinamometamorfici contributes to the quality of this marble varieties classifiable among those compact, crystalline saccharoidal.
The name derives from Portorož Italian translation of the French term or doors ("golden door") with which it was called during the French domination. Originally it was called "mixed yellow and white", was later named "Jade of Portovenere." In English this variety of marble is known as the black and gold (black and gold).
In ancient times were extracted small blocks are easy to remove using the plans of settling then used in the construction of homes in the area of Portovenere. It is not known exactly when was the beginning of the rational exploitation of the deposits of marble Portoro but probably dating back to the Romans. In the ancient city of Luni located between the provinces of La Spezia and Massa Carrara shaped plates were used in this marble while the Etruscans came up to us architecture containing plates and other small parts made of marble Portorož.
In Roman times, it made extensive use of marble in Portorož imperial villas and probably was also used in the construction of the temple dedicated to Venus on the end of the Gulf of La Spezia on which it was built after the church of San Pietro. Probably the second century B.C. dates back to the great street of the Cardo-decumanus of the city of Luni paved with marble Portoro; Also in the amphitheater of the city dating from the first century BC you can see examples of use of this marble, in the perimeter walls as building stones.
At the beginning of the twelfth century marble Portorož was used by the Genoese in building a strong place on the western headland of the Gulf of La Spezia which are visible the remains well preserved. Broad use of this marble combined with other colored marbles was always done by the Genoese for building facades, pillars, caryatids, hanging arches and inner linings of the villas built along the Ligurian Riviera.
During the Renaissance there was a return to the use of the marbles after the rediscovery of classical taste. During the reign of Cosimo I de 'Medici, there was a great impetus to the search and extraction of colored marbles as the Giallo Siena, the Medici breccias and Portorož. You can find a number of examples in Italy and Europe also in the Baroque period. In Rome it was used for the interior (floors and altars) of various churches such as San Pietro in Vincoli, San Silvestro in You see, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. John Lateran, St. Lawrence Outside the Walls, Santa Maria Maddalena in Campo Marzio, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, St. Louis of France.
The rediscovery of the ancient marble quarries of the island of Palmaria Portoro took place in 1600 at the hands of the Morello entered into an agreement with the monks Olivetani delle Grazie on the basis of which he could take advantage of any type of marble against payment of 13 Genoese money for each shitload removed from the island. The marble was appreciated in a short time and used in the churches of the neighborhood, in particular those of La Spezia, the Jesuit fathers of Palermo and Genoa, the columns of the house of Castagnola and the church of San Siro. The monks then tried to break the contract realizing the gain lean harvest but the cause last long.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century were active three different extraction sites: Caprione on the mountain in the eastern part of the Gulf near the church of San Lorenzo the extracted material was more vague and harder than quarried on the west side and the second Landinelli from here comes the marble used in the churches of the nuns of St. Clare and St. Andrew's in Sarzana and the columns of the churches of Sant'Ambrogio and San Siro to Genoa.
The quarries of Mount Caprione were abandoned at the end of the eighteenth century and remained active only two quarries belonging to the White Monks of Mount Olivetano in the country of Grace: one was the oldest on the island of Palmaria, the other open in the village of Le Grazie on the banks of a stream from which were drawn the columns of the nave of the church of Le Grazie.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the use of this marble also spread outside of Liguria in particular France, Belgium and Switzerland to decorate palaces and castles like those of Versailles, Marly and Compiegne. It is said that the marble of Portorož became the rage when Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione, who was mistress of Napoleon III got to cover their rooms with this stone. Later, he was also exported to the United States where, for example, dressed the screening room at Paramount.
Its appearance makes it suitable for very decorative and artistic achievements of merit such as vases, columns, interiors of churches and palaces, paneling, flooring and furniture plans. The color is deep black and bright with golden veins. Geologically this is a limestone era liassic carbonate veins with a limonite formed in a marine environment calm, deep, poorly oxygenated and rich in organic matter. The black color is due precisely to the abundance of organic matter while the golden streaks to the partial dolomitization of organic matter that has oxidized. In addition to color, even the microcrystalline structure due to the processes dinamometamorfici contributes to the quality of this marble varieties classifiable among those compact, crystalline saccharoidal.
The name derives from Portorož Italian translation of the French term or doors ("golden door") with which it was called during the French domination. Originally it was called "mixed yellow and white", was later named "Jade of Portovenere." In English this variety of marble is known as the black and gold (black and gold).
In ancient times were extracted small blocks are easy to remove using the plans of settling then used in the construction of homes in the area of Portovenere. It is not known exactly when was the beginning of the rational exploitation of the deposits of marble Portoro but probably dating back to the Romans. In the ancient city of Luni located between the provinces of La Spezia and Massa Carrara shaped plates were used in this marble while the Etruscans came up to us architecture containing plates and other small parts made of marble Portorož.
In Roman times, it made extensive use of marble in Portorož imperial villas and probably was also used in the construction of the temple dedicated to Venus on the end of the Gulf of La Spezia on which it was built after the church of San Pietro. Probably the second century B.C. dates back to the great street of the Cardo-decumanus of the city of Luni paved with marble Portoro; Also in the amphitheater of the city dating from the first century BC you can see examples of use of this marble, in the perimeter walls as building stones.
At the beginning of the twelfth century marble Portorož was used by the Genoese in building a strong place on the western headland of the Gulf of La Spezia which are visible the remains well preserved. Broad use of this marble combined with other colored marbles was always done by the Genoese for building facades, pillars, caryatids, hanging arches and inner linings of the villas built along the Ligurian Riviera.
During the Renaissance there was a return to the use of the marbles after the rediscovery of classical taste. During the reign of Cosimo I de 'Medici, there was a great impetus to the search and extraction of colored marbles as the Giallo Siena, the Medici breccias and Portorož. You can find a number of examples in Italy and Europe also in the Baroque period. In Rome it was used for the interior (floors and altars) of various churches such as San Pietro in Vincoli, San Silvestro in You see, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. John Lateran, St. Lawrence Outside the Walls, Santa Maria Maddalena in Campo Marzio, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, St. Louis of France.
The rediscovery of the ancient marble quarries of the island of Palmaria Portoro took place in 1600 at the hands of the Morello entered into an agreement with the monks Olivetani delle Grazie on the basis of which he could take advantage of any type of marble against payment of 13 Genoese money for each shitload removed from the island. The marble was appreciated in a short time and used in the churches of the neighborhood, in particular those of La Spezia, the Jesuit fathers of Palermo and Genoa, the columns of the house of Castagnola and the church of San Siro. The monks then tried to break the contract realizing the gain lean harvest but the cause last long.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century were active three different extraction sites: Caprione on the mountain in the eastern part of the Gulf near the church of San Lorenzo the extracted material was more vague and harder than quarried on the west side and the second Landinelli from here comes the marble used in the churches of the nuns of St. Clare and St. Andrew's in Sarzana and the columns of the churches of Sant'Ambrogio and San Siro to Genoa.
The quarries of Mount Caprione were abandoned at the end of the eighteenth century and remained active only two quarries belonging to the White Monks of Mount Olivetano in the country of Grace: one was the oldest on the island of Palmaria, the other open in the village of Le Grazie on the banks of a stream from which were drawn the columns of the nave of the church of Le Grazie.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the use of this marble also spread outside of Liguria in particular France, Belgium and Switzerland to decorate palaces and castles like those of Versailles, Marly and Compiegne. It is said that the marble of Portorož became the rage when Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione, who was mistress of Napoleon III got to cover their rooms with this stone. Later, he was also exported to the United States where, for example, dressed the screening room at Paramount.