Corsi 367, approx. 145 x 73 x 40 mm, © Oxford University Museum of Natural History
| OUMNH Number: | 367 |
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| Name and quarry location: | Alabastro di S. Felicita, from Santa Felicita, Capo Circeo, Latina, Lazio, Italy |
| Geological description: | Compact banded travertine composed of medium to coarse-grained columnar calcite crystals |
| Comments: | Alabastro di S. Felicita is cited as 'di S. Felicita o sia monte Circello' in a list of ornamental stones and their values in Rome given by Rees (1819). Capo Santo Felicita or Monte Circello are alternative names for the flat swampy plain at the tip of Capo Circeo in G.F. Ameti’s 1693 map of the Pontine marshes. Giambattista Brocchi, in his 1816 'Viaggio nel Lazio: la tuscia e l'agro pontino', gives an account of the deposits of 'alabastro' found there, noting they formed extensive veins and cavity fills. He considered the quarries to be not particularly ancient. He also noted that the colour of the stone was white or like honey, when it is called cotognino, a description that accords with all of Corsi’s specimens believed to be from Circeo. |
| References: | Ameti (1693); Brocchi (1816); Pieri (c.1958) tav.X; Rees (1819). Other examples: De Santis Collection 277/121. |
| Further information: |
Alabaster-travertine.pdf |
| Corsi's classification: | Class 1. Marbles; Section 4. Concretionary marbles; Species 1. Alabasters; ii. Italian alabasters |
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| Corsi's text: | 102.34 Alabastro di S. Felicita |