pietrasanta-advice needed

Quoted text begins.RE: " . . . pieces between 100 and 200 lbs . . . would prefer them if
they were in a natural state i.e not sawn "
End of quote.

Hi Rod,

Though I have never bought any raw stone myself, I have accompanied a
friend who has bought stone in Carrara/Massa (a few kilometers from
Pietrasanta).

First of all, there are several dozens of stone suppliers in the area,
and if you used a truck you could probably load it up for almost nothing
-- the size you are talking about in 'ordinario' (the locally quarried
bianco unito 'C' grade white marble) is scrap and not worth the trouble
for the suppliers to stock or sell (they literally throw that size stuff
in dumpsters and haul it off for fill). Our school studies abroad
program gets this kind of material given to us for student use - free -
though we have to pay trucking to the other side of Tuscany (200-300
kilometers or so), unloaded and reloaded onto a smaller truck, and then
up to the studio in an ancient hill town with very narrow road access. I
don't know about export duties if you are driving across borders however.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine who also lives in the states
bought about 2 tons of stone -- mostly ordinario, but a little bit of
Statuario and Belgian black. Larger blocks than you are talking about,
but 'random' sizes. All the blocks are partially sawn because the stone
is quarried in so much larger blocks (10 to 20 tons) that it has to be
sawn-up for sale. The stone altogether was about !000 euro. The
shipping back to the states was about 1500 euro, including crating,
broker and export fees.

You need a broker to handle all the shipping details. Most of the
suppliers can suggest a broker, but my friend had a broker from the
states he knew.

Good Luck with the Stone,
Don

http://www.dondougan.homestead.com/indexdd.html