Travertine

Travertine is a limestone rock, composed of calcite, aragonite and limonite, with compact sets, parallel to each other, in which small cavities are observed, where the tones that pass through white, green or pink predominate, frequently showing marks of branches and leaves.

Main features

Its finishing patterns are resinous, with the application of a resin to cover the holes and pores present in the raw travertine: as extracted from nature and levigated, with a matte aspect.

Travertines originate in thermal waters and do not show any trace of plants or animals, only of microbial activity, mainly bacteria, heat tolerant, and diatoms

Use

Because they are more resistant than tufts, Italian travertines were widely used in Roman constructions and are still intensively exploited for this purpose today.

Origin

There are large quarries of this type of rock in Mexico, Turkey and Peru, but the most famous varieties come from Italy.

Curiosities

Travertine had its use started at the beginning of civilization, widely used in buildings and monuments such as the sculpture Venus de Milo, entirely produced in travertine in Ancient Greece.

The city of Tivoli, in Italy, was where the name travertine was created and was the pioneer in its extraction, mainly in places with high flow such as waterfalls.