Monticchio Alabaster Quarry

We are in the saddle between the Monticchio hill and the Guardia Orlando hill. The Etruscans and Romans already knew the qualities of a precious rock, alabaster, and came to quarry it on the Circeo promontory, as shown by statues and fragments found at various archaeological sites in the area (e.g. the Temple of Jupiter Anxur in Terracina) and in Etruscan tombs. Alabaster is a precious rock formed by the slow deposition of calcium carbonate, which surfaces in Liassic limestone as stalactites, stalagmites and mammillary concretions. With such a fine stone available, at the end of the 18th century an experimental school for working alabaster was opened (sadly no longer active), and local writings say it operated until the 1950s. The school was then moved to the Villaggio della Mercede (at Colonia Elena), where it stayed open for about a year, and was then moved again to Latina. Capponi’s historical book on the Circeo mentions four quarries where this rare stone was extracted: two on the Quarto Caldo side (the Batteria area and Torre Fico), one near Mount Morrone and one in the Monticchio area.