Nero Marquina

Nero Marquina is a deep black marble quarried in the Basque Country of northern Spain, around the town of Markina, from which it takes its name. The ground is a full, almost absolute black, crossed by sharp, irregular white calcite veins: sometimes as fine as threads, sometimes as broad as a bolt of lightning. Compact and fine-grained, it takes an intense mirror polish and is among the most widely used black marbles in the world for kitchen worktops, bathrooms, carved basins, staircases and interior floors. You will find it in the marble catalogue of our Aprilia workshop.

Composition. It is a calcareous stone of marine origin, classed as marble in the trade: calcium carbonate, with tiny fossil fragments. Like every marble it dislikes acids, which dull it, and needs protecting with a sealer.

Colour and veining. The black is even and deep, without the grey undertones of other dark marbles. The white veins follow no pattern: they run diagonally, branch, or open into patches. Their quantity is the real difference between one slab and the next. Veining is judged on the whole slab, never on a sample.

Hardness and porosity. Its porosity is low for a marble: it absorbs less than the Apuan whites and far less than travertine. It remains a marble, though, not a granite: a knife used without a board will scratch it, and acid will etch it. Its hardness is ample for worktops, steps and domestic floors, but it is not that of quartz or sintered stone.

Kitchen

Nero Marquina is the marble of dark kitchens: on the central island or the full-height wall slab, its white veins run like a calligrapher's signature. It holds its own against dark timber and above all against brass, which is mirrored in it and brings the black to life. For worktops in daily use we recommend a honed or brushed finish, because on polished black every scratch and every drop of hard water shows.

Bathroom

In the bathroom it clads whole walls, basin tops and monolithic basins hollowed from the solid. With brass taps it composes rooms worthy of a fine hotel; with Bianco Carrara it forms the classic contrast of black and white. A honed finish is less slippery than polished and is the safer choice for shower trays and floors.

Staircases and floors

On staircases it gives treads of great character, often with the riser in the same stone; on interior floors it is laid in large formats, chequerboard-fashion with Bianco Carrara, or in lozenges edged with brass strips.

Outdoors: yes or no?

Outdoors it is not the first choice: black absorbs the heat of the sun, a polished surface loses its shine under rain and frost, and the acids of the table leave their mark. As we explain in our guide to stone for outdoor kitchens, marble is used outdoors honed and sealed, preferably pale; for the worktops of outdoor kitchens a black granite or a sintered stone is the wiser choice.

• Polished. Black as night, the white vein gleaming, brass reflected in it. Maximum depth of colour, but scratches, acid marks and fingerprints show at once: for walls, island sides, basins and bathrooms.
• Honed. Smooth but not reflective; the black softens a little towards charcoal, and the marks of use all but disappear. It is the finish we most often recommend for a Nero Marquina kitchen worktop.
• Brushed. Abrasive brushes give the stone a gently rippled skin, soft to the touch, which mellows the black and hides wear better than any other finish.

On our finishes page we explain them one by one; in Aprilia you can judge them by eye and by touch.

Nero Marquina worktops are normally made in 2 or 3 centimetres. The 2 cm is lighter; the 3 cm better carries overhangs and an undermounted sink. A deep edge is obtained with a strip bonded at 45 degrees, the vein running unbroken over the corner.

• Book-matching. Two consecutive slabs from the same block are opened like the pages of a book, and the white veins mirror each other across the joint in a butterfly pattern. On the side of an island or a bathroom wall it becomes the centre of the room.
• Waterfall edge. The worktop folds over the corner and drops to the floor in the same slab: the island becomes a black monolith.
• 45° mitred joint. The slabs are cut diagonally through their thickness and closed by hand with black colour-matched adhesive: the meeting line is all but invisible.
• Sinks and details. Sinks carved from the same slab, flush cut-outs for the hob, edges polished by hand.

It is cared for like any marble: warm water, neutral soap, a soft cloth, and anything spilt wiped up at once. Lemon, vinegar, wine and limescale removers etch the calcium carbonate and leave a dull mark. On black, three further points apply:

• hard water left to dry forms a white film that shows on black: dry the worktop around the sink;
• abrasive sponges leave micro-scratches that rob a polished surface of its depth: soft cloths only;
• the sealer should be renewed when a drop of water no longer beads, generally once a year.

Marble regenerates: a scratch or a dull patch is removed by re-honing or re-polishing, in the workshop or on site. The rest is in our guide to caring for a marble worktop.

Portoro is the black Ligurian marble with gold veins: rarer and more precious, at its best polished on walls and fireplaces, but even more delicate in daily use. Black granite, such as Nero Assoluto, has no veins: it is uniform, untroubled by acids and suitable outdoors, but it lacks the pattern of marble. Nero Marquina sits between them: the white vein that granite lacks, and a low porosity that Portoro lacks.

In our Aprilia workshop, on the Via Pontina between Rome and Latina, we have worked marble since 1976. We choose Nero Marquina slabs one by one, for the depth of the ground and the distribution of the veins. The 3D design shows you the result before the stone is cut; then come computer-controlled cutting, hand finishing and installation by our own team, as described on our craftsmanship page. Site survey and quotation are free of charge in Rome, Latina and throughout Lazio; we deliver and install abroad as well. Write to us: we will tell you which slab is right for you.