Italian White Marble Trend

Italian white marble demand, such as Calacatta Gold, Calacatta Fabricotti, White Carrara, Bianco Gioa, Bianco Venetino and Calacatta Oro has been increasing steadily. Unfortunately, the production of these white marbles has not kept up with demand, and availability is becoming more difficult.

Italian White marbles like White Carrara is preferred by designers because it has a nice balance of white background and tiny gray veins. Both of these colors accommodate modern design trends in contemporary kitchens and bathrooms.

Another popular Italian Marble is Calacatta Marble.

Is all Carrara marble from Italy?

Real Carrara marble come from quarries in the Apuana region of Tuscany. These quarries facing the sea are very high up in the mountains with dramatic views. Some of the quarries can be seen from Marina di Carrara and Pietrasanta

See our real Carrara marble collection.

Italian white marbles are perfect for the latest trends in metropolitan living and high rise luxury condo construction all over the world. Their uniformity and elegance make it a perfect choice for white marble and marble flooring. Beige marble is no longer the most desired natural stone and Italian white marble is replacing beige marble for flooring and wall applications.

Recent large scale building projects in Saudi Arabia grand Mosque also added an additional requirement of Italian marble blocks. Additionally, increasing requirements from India and China for their residential and commercial flooring requirements made the situation worse.

Why Italian marble is expensive?

Marble tile and slab production are becoming more difficult as there are less-skilled workers in Italy and heavy environmental and regulatory requirements reduce yield in most marble processing facilities around Carrara and Apuano region as the best marble producing region is known.

Most of the major factories producing White Carrara or Calacatta marble closed. Presently, the majority of the Italian white marble production goes to China in block form. Chinese factories with cheaper labor and less stringent environmental regulations process white marbles at a cheaper cost. Transportation cost of blocks to China is offset with the cost advantage of Chinese marble producers. White marble from China looks different and will not be competition for Italian white marbles.

White marble requires more strict grading compared to beige marbles and a lot of undesirable tiles or slabs are selected out to be made into smaller sizes or mosaics. This is one of the reasons for seeing the proliferation of white marble mosaic production. It is much easier to make smaller mosaics where darker veins or spots are sorted out.