As I was driving along the Tuscan highway a couple of days ago, the white mountains came into view. Not a ski resort (although there are many in Italy) but the quarries where white marble has been excavated since the 2nd century BC. The area is Tuscany and the provinces are Massa and Carrara. You know the marble and the mountains better than you might imagine. Can you picture how white the perfectly carved marble of Michelangelo’s David is? Or his Bacchus? How about the Pieta in the Vatican? All marble from Carrara, where Michelangelo spent years choosing the perfect stone for his projects. In our modern-day, can you envision the white marble imported from Italy and used to make kitchen counter tops, tiles, pillars, statues and decorative borders? Also marble from Carrara and Massa. Visiting this area is a dream come true for me. This time of the year, I am very much aware of how old meets new and how 2012 is meeting 2013. Somehow, if these white mountains can still b......

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