White Carrara

Design lives in the city

Every summer, White Carrara turns the historic center of Carrara, in the heart of the Massa-Carrara province in Tuscany, into a vast, widespread laboratory dedicated to contemporary design. Promoted by the Municipality of Carrara—a UNESCO Creative City and the 2026 Tuscan Capital of Contemporary Art—the festival brings marble, the iconic material of the Apuan territory, into dialogue with the creative research of top Italian and international designers.

Ten years of White Carrara

The 2026 edition marks a significant milestone: the tenth anniversary of the festival, titled Design Lives in the City and curated by Domenico Raimondi. This year, White Carrara takes a transformative leap, evolving from a temporary exhibition into a permanent urban project: the works created will no longer be dismantled at the end of the season but will become a permanent part of the city's street furniture, mapping out a new geography of squares and pathways.

Over thirty marble works

At the heart of the festival are over thirty works distributed throughout the squares and streets of the center: benches, communal seating, lighting systems, installations, resting points, and lightweight infrastructure, all crafted in marble with the support of some fifty companies from the Carrara stone district. The designers involved range from established international names like Ross Lovegrove, Karim Rashid, and Fabio Novembre to numerous Italian talents, in a journey that explores how stone can become a tool for daily life and social interaction.

Exhibitions and side events

Alongside the urban installations, the edition features exhibitions and a rich off-circuit program. Piazza Alberica hosts the DESIGNULTRA exhibition, curated by ADI, which investigates the relationship between function and artistic expression, while events, meetings, and guided tours invite the public to discover the works scattered throughout the city. The bond between Carrara and marble, between the artisan knowledge of the quarries and the language of contemporary design, is the common thread of an experience that unites art, industry, and public space.

Why visit

White Carrara is an unmissable event for lovers of design, contemporary art, and marble culture. Visiting Carrara during the festival means strolling through an open-air museum where every square offers an encounter with a work of art, and discovering a city that has made white stone its identity for centuries. The long summer duration and free admission make the event accessible to families, tourists, and enthusiasts alike.