There is a reason why Cumar Inc. established itself over the years as the leading importer and fabricator of the finest marble, granite and exotic stones in the New England region. Its history encompasses several decades and generations: when Angelo “Ivo” Cubi founded Cumar Inc. in 1992 in Everett, MA, he was carrying out a family tradition of seven generations. And it is indisputable that he brought with him a piece of Italy.
It was late spring when a train hit the truck headed to The Cubi’s facility in San Pietro in Cariano (Italy)
Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella and the area surrounding this small city in the heart of Po Valley is considered the marble’s temple. The excavation of quarries in that area started in the first century BC and a reached its peak during the “Signoria Scaligera” – the Scaligeri seigniory, who were Lords of the city of Verona – when the Veronese marbles were massively used to build the finest sacred and civil architectural works of Verona, Italy. This is the reason why Verona has been called the “marmoreal city” from that moment on.
It is in this setting that Ivo’s ancestors established a family tradition that continues and flourishes today.
During the early decades of the 20th century, the transportation of these blocks of marble was tremendously dangerous: the “carratori”, men who took care of the transportation, did not have cranes to load the blocks on the trucks, they used to do it manually or with rudimentary tools. Additionally, the block was secured with simple ropes until it was settled down on the truck. And the toughest part was the route down to the valley. The steep gravel roads with sharp turns carved on the mountainsides did not render optimal driving conditions for these top heavy loads, sometimes resulting in the occasional roll off of cargo.
It was late spring in 1945 when a train coming from Verona and headed to Garda, Italy, hit the truck of Leone Ballarini, who was delivering a heavy load of marble slabs to The Cubi’s manufacturing facility in San Pietro in Cariano. Leone, who was driving a Gräf & Stift truck charcoal-fueled, didn’t see that the train was arriving, but managed to avoid the impact with the train at the very last second. Despite the train hitting the back of the truck, Leone got out uninjured from the accident. The news spread all over the area due to the peculiarity of the fact: a crash between a train and a truck.
We were delighted to read a little piece of our family’s history on Rino Pio Accordini’s book entitled “6 Giugno 1927.. Dolore di Marmo – “Memoria di Pietra”.
The author narrates the hard extraction work of marbles and stones from quarries in the Veronese area, an industry that still nowadays marks the identity of this territory.
Thank you Rino!
