Carrara Sunset
Marina Apartment
Colonada marble mountains
Carrara Winter
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Nine Months In Italy With Sculpture and
Drawing
By Gordon Punt, MFA
August 12, 1984
Marble Mountains by Moon Light
Last night I had a beautiful evening high
up in the marble mountains looking over Carrara and the Marina.
At eight thirty I started out by going to a small beach party
with Dionisio, Mary Jo, Carolina and Hanna. Carolina is a
young artist who I just met from Austria and she has a car.
Hanna is leaving in a few days to go back to New York with
her marble sculptures and she wanted to have a last moonlight
swim party before she left. Before last night it had been
raining for three days and we thought the party would be called
off but, but the storm cleared up and the night was ours.
We took some goodies to munch on while at the beach, like
watermelon, cantaloupe, cookies and of course some wine. I
also brought a guitar I was borrowing, so we sang a few songs
and watched the full moon rise, just as some of us had done
four weeks ago at the same spot. Dionisio had his foot in
a cast from a motor-scooter accident he had a few days earlier
so he could not go swimming, but the rest of us went for an
all-natural moonlight swim in the gentle warm water. At about
eleven o'clock we were getting damp sitting on the beach so
we decided to leave and go to a party in Codena, a nearby
little town up in the mountains, which was hosted by the Communist
Party. There have been several parties like this hosted by
either the Communists, the Anarchists or some other political
group, and everyone goes to them because there are never any
lectures, just food and drink to buy cheaply, music and lots
of people enjoying themselves outside under the trees. We
got there late so most everyone had left, but we stayed and
did a little dancing and singing before heading back home.
Hanna and Mary Jo were dropped off at their places and Carolina,
Dionisio and I decided to go up into the marble quarries for
another adventure. I had been wanting to go up there since
I arrived in Carrara but had never been any farther than Janos'
house. There are several roads that go up to different parts
of the mountains but we took the one closest to us.
As we started climbing the steep grade in Carolina's car we
all knew this was going to be a special event. The moon was
full and the air was clear from three days of rain, and the
only sound was that of our car. Before long we passed Janos'
house and we all stepped into the unknown, because neither
of them had been up this road either. Earlier that evening
on the beach we had seen Mars, Jupiter and Saturn lined up
just above the ocean, and then later we also saw some of the
constellations that defied the moon's bright light. In fact
the moonlight was so strong we turned off the car's headlights
to fully appreciate the celestial radiance, as we slowly made
our way up. Carolina was telling us about another time she
went up a road like this to the caves and how she had met
some of the workers that live up there. They often stay up
late drinking and singing, and she said they love to perform
for guests, singing in harmony. She had been moved to tears
she remembered by the depth and emotion their singing aroused,
so we all hoped to catch some of those mountain souls that
night and be carried away by their magic. We saw only one
light on the way up however, with no sign of life, so we were
to be our own guides. The moon was casting shadows from the
towering peaks like soft blue sunlight, and the huge patches
of crushed marble stood out like glaciers as each day they
grew and slid further down the mountain, rumbling in their
wake. There were no railings along the road so at times we
turned the headlights back on to assure our course; one wrong
turn and we could have made a disturbing echo in the canyon
far below. Within fifteen minutes we had reached near the
top where we ran into a locked gate with a sign "Beware
of Dog". This was pretty funny to see so far from nowhere
and we parked the car to get out and look around, after backing
down a bit into a safer spot. We grabbed some cookies and
wine, then walked a bit to enjoy the view.
Before long I realized that the awesome power and still majesty
encompassing me was similar to something I had experienced
before. Fifteen years ago in 1969 I spent twelve long months
in Antarctica at the South Pole. That was my last of four
years in the Navy and one of the most memorable of my life.
I was stationed on the Ross Ice Shelf at Mc Murdo Sound where
I was not only surrounded by mountains, volcanoes and glaciers,
but where I also made several camping expeditions to outlying
areas for fun with friends. I had an overwhelming feeling
last night that I was back at the South Pole, because I remember
feeling the same indescribable experiences of being in the
presence of something that is silent, beautiful, and very
powerful, with an atmosphere that is crisp and clean. However,
unlike Antarctica, here man was changing the landscape and
we could see where over two thousand years of cutting had
turned these mountains into a series of bizarre environmental
sculptures as the slaves, mules, and now trucks carried some
of the mountains away with them. The night was getting late,
so after singing a chorus of "Blue Moon" on my guitar
we headed slowly back down, glowing from the night and the
marble in our souls.
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