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Pietra serena (commonly called Firenzuola stone), was used by Brunelleschi, Michelangelo and Vasari to create their works of art. It is beautiful, easy to work and to combine with other materials such as wood and terracotta, and it is also long-lasting, and these are only some of its selling points.
 
Pietra serena quarried in the Firenzuola area is formed by clastic sedimentary rocks called sandstone.
Sandstone is a compact stone, so it is coherent.
The mechanism for the formation of sandstone is the sedimentation (cementing, consolidation) of incoherent materials (fragments, granules, clasts) called sand.
Sand, such as all the clastic materials, both big (gravel) and smaller (clay, mud and silt), is formed by rock particles that have been broken off the main rock, usually on the earth surface. These rocks can be magmatic, sedimentary and metamorphic.
Quarrying started in 15th century, but only with the use of modern instruments and methodologies, the pietra serena started to be widely used and spread.
 
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