§ 99 Pavements in Breccia Marble
To explain why no mention was made of some breccias recently discovered by Duke Cosimo while stones and marbles of all sorts were being spoken of—I may say that in the year 1563 His Excellency found in the mountains of Pietrasanta, near to the village of Stazzema, a hill which extends for two miles, whose outer crust is of white marble excellent for statues. The under layer is a red and yellowish breccia, and those farther down are greenish, black, red, and yellow with various other mixtures of colour; all these marbles are hard, and their nature is such that the farther one penetrates inwards the greater is their solidity. Up to the present time there can be seen quarried from thence columns of fifteen to twenty braccia; but these marbles are not yet put into use, because a road three miles in length is only now being constructed by order of his Excellency to make it possible to transport the marbles from the said quarries to the sea shore.259 These breccias will, so far as one can see, be most suitable for pavements.