One of the most striking features of Liguria is the extent to which slate
is used. Think of Genoa's dappled grey roofs, the resorts along the Riviera,
the region's medieval churches and their black and white striped facades,
the homes of the aristocracy with their grand slate stairways, stone barbeque
hobs, overdoor decorations, school blackboards, billiard tables… wherever
you look this fascinating stone has left its mark on the region's history
and everyday life.
Slate is a highly fissile metamorphic rock of sedimentary origin which can
be split along parallel planes to form slabs of varying thickness used for
many different purposes.
The slate extracted in Liguria was formed between 70 and 80 million years
ago in the Val Lavagna, which takes its name from the ancient word for this
black stone. Slate was already in use at the end of the first millennium,
when mining developed into a commercial business and stone was first traded
outside local boundaries. Given the location, slabs of slate were transported
predominantly by sea.
