§ 10 Of Cipollino Marble72
The cipollini marbles are another kind, different in grain and colour, and found in other places besides Carrara. Most of them are greenish, and full of veins; they are useful for various things, but not for figures. Those which the sculptors call ‘saligni,’73 because they are partly transparent, and have that lustrous appearance seen in salt, have something of the nature of stalagmite, and are troublesome enough to make figures of; because the grain of the stone is rough and coarse, or because in damp weather water drops from it continually or else it sweats. The ‘campanini’ marbles are so named because they sound like a bell under the hammer and give out a sharper note than other marbles.74 These are hard and crack more easily than the kinds above mentioned. They are quarried at Pietrasanta.75 Again at Seravezza76 in many places and at Campiglia77 there are marbles excavated, which are for the most part excellent for ashlar work and even fairly good sometimes for statues.