Peperino extraction at Marino in the Alban Hills near Rome.
Peperino is a grey-brown volcanic tuff used extensively at Rome for building from the Archaic period right through to the modern day. In the Roman imperial period, tuff walls were often faced in marble or travertine. The main source of peperino are the Alban Hills, though other sources exist to the north of Rome, around Viterbo. In this image the quarrymen are wearing paper hats, a tradition among Italian stoneworkers, especially at Carrara.
