Corsi 250, approx. 145 x 73 x 40 mm, © Oxford University Museum of Natural History
| OUMNH Number: | 250 |
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| Name and quarry location: | Marmo della Gaetta, from Gaetta, Lake Como, Como, Lombardy, Italy; or more probably from the area north of Verona, Veneto, Italy. |
| Geological description: | Bioclast-rich microsparite limestone with gastropods and bivalves; perhaps originally nodular/intraclastic/conglomeritic, now much brecciated. It has calcite-filled fractures and stylolites. |
| Comments: | Amoretti (1824) refers to a mine at Gaetta on the western coast of Lario (Lake Como) - most probably in the area of the Villa la Gaeta near S. Siro. Melchiorre (1804) refers to iron being mined at Gaeta, as do other authors of the time. A modern source records Gaeta mine as working a lead-zinc deposit in dolomite (Ralph, n.d.). No mention is made of decorative stone, and because this sample is not dolomitic, Corsi's locality appears very doubtful. It may be the same stone as no.254, lumachella di Vialeta from the Verona area, Veneto, Italy. Note that Corsi's three specimens supposedly from Gaetta (nos. 194, 250 and 450) are all very different and it is doubtful whether any of them are correctly provenanced. |
| References: | Amoretti (1824) 352 footnote; Ralph (n.d.) |
| Further information: |
Verona.pdf |
| Corsi's classification: | Class 1. Marbles; Section 3. Lumachellas; ii. Italian lumachellas |
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| Corsi's text: | 82.18 Marmo della Gaetta sul lago di Como |