Even the great sculptor Michelangelo bought the marble of Carrara to realize what his imagination created, witnessing this at the Massa’s Archive, a contract signed on November 1, 1516, concerning the sale of some marbles that Michelangelo bought Francesco Pelliccia, one of the Polvaccio horses, the mining area of Torano, from which the statuary blocks used by the artist to create his masterpieces came from. The contract, kept between the papers of the notary Carrarese Galvano Parlanciotto, is a horn, and is currently exhibited in the documentary exhibition until 31 October at the State Massive Archives, during the 130th anniversary of the institute. This notary act is one of the many tests of visits by Michelangelo and stays in Carrara. From another document, kept at the Archives of Lucca, it is evident that Michelangelo came to Carrara for the first time around 1496 to choose the marble in which to sculpt the Pietà . His subsequent presence in the city in 1505 is attested in a letter written by Michelangelo himself, just after Pope Julius II had assigned him the task of carving the group of statues for his grave. The subsequent “trips” took place in the beginning of 1508, in November 1516 (period covered by the document on the State Archives of Massa) in 1517-1518, in 1519 and in April 1521. The last, probably, Was held in 1525, when the artist signed his signature on the ancient Roman bas-relief of the Fantiscritti (now kept at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara), which later also made Antonio Canova.
