Italy Travertine Quarries
Workers use a jackhammer to break a block of travertine at the Degemar Quarry near Tivoli, Italy, 35 kilometers east of Rome, on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, where 17th-century Baroque architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini selected travertine for the colonnade of St. Peter's Square.
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The same travertine quarries near Rome that built St. Peter’s Basilica and the Colosseum are still being dug out today, providing the distinctive pock-marked rock to build a new generation of churches, temples and mosques worldwide. It is prized by architects for several reasons: It’s strong, plentiful and can withstand any number of climactic and environmental assaults. Depending on how and where it’s cut, it has a variety of looks: rough or sleek, in various colors. One of the latest projects is a new travertine façade for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple in New York City.
