Travertino

Travertine is a sedimentary limestone. It forms where thermal springs rich in calcium carbonate lay it down layer upon layer. That origin gives the stone its two hallmarks: the natural voids, the small cavities that pit its surface, and the parallel bands of colour that record the seasons of its deposit. The most celebrated variety is Roman travertine from the quarries of Tivoli, the stone of the Colosseum and of the colonnade of St Peter's.

Its colour runs from ivory white through warm beige to walnut and grey. What looks like veining is in fact stratification. Vein-cut, the slab shows its parallel bands; cross-cut, it reveals a softer, cloudier and more even figure. In terms of hardness it is a soft stone, comparable to marble: it cuts and carves well. Like every calcareous stone it dislikes acids and is absorbent, more so than the compact marbles; on worktops it should therefore be filled, with the pores stopped, and protected with a sealer.

The colours: classic, walnut and Silver

• Classic travertine (or Roman, Navona): an ivory ground with slightly warmer bands. The brightest and most versatile.
• Walnut travertine (noce): brown and amber tones, warmer; it hides wear more readily and lends depth to staircases, edges and floors.
• Silver travertine: a grey ground with alternating pale and dark bands, the most contemporary; it sits well with steel, dark oak and black.

• Kitchen: it is the traditional worktop of Francesca, our indoor masonry-built kitchen, where solid travertine gives the tops their body and a walnut travertine edge draws the outline. As a work surface it should be filled, honed and sealed.
• Bathroom: shower enclosures with joints measured to the millimetre, basins carved from the solid such as our Obi basin, and walls that dress the whole room in one continuous tone.
• Stairs and floors: vein-cut, with the bands running along the tread, or cross-cut for a calmer field. Indoor floors are laid honed or polished, staircases in a matt finish.
• Outdoors: yes. Facades, thresholds, pool surrounds and solid-stone outdoor kitchens: travertine was born in the open air. In its more compact varieties, with a slip-resistant finish and a protective treatment, it withstands sun, rain and frost. Where food is cut and drinks are poured it is best paired with granite, quartzite or sintered stone (see our guide to outdoor kitchen stone).

The first decision is not the finish but the pores. Filled: the voids are stopped in the workshop with a filler matched to the stone, or deliberately contrasting, and the surface becomes continuous, easy to clean and suited to kitchen and bathroom tops. Open-pored (unfilled): the cavities stay visible and the stone shows its nature; this is the choice for facades, walls and external cladding. Then comes the finish proper:

• Honed: matt and smooth, the finish that suits travertine best. The filled pores remain legible as a texture and the marks of use all but vanish.
• Polished: possible on filled stone, it deepens the colour but looks less natural and shows acid marks.
• Brushed: a gently rippled, velvety skin that opens the pores a little; it warms the beiges and walnuts and is slip-resistant.

Sandblasted and bush-hammered, rough and slip-resistant, are for steps and pool surrounds: every finish is explained, one by one, on its own page.

Travertine worktops are made from slabs of 2 or 3 centimetres: 2 cm goes with fitted kitchens, 3 cm carries overhangs and undermounted sinks more comfortably. From there the workshop takes over:

• Book-matching: two consecutive slabs from the block opened like the pages of a book, with the bands mirrored across the joint. On travertine the effect is quieter than on Calacatta, but on a bathroom wall it makes all the difference.
• Waterfall ends: the worktop drops to the floor at the ends of the island and the stratification carries on unbroken.
• Mitred joints: two slabs cut at 45 degrees meet on the edge and the eye reads a solid block 6, 8 or 12 centimetres deep; this is how thick edges and monolithic islands are made.

Sinks cut into the top, flush cut-outs, bevelled or bullnose edges: every piece is cut on numerically controlled machines and finished by hand in our workshop (the trade's vocabulary is in our glossary).

Indoors the rules are those of marble: warm water, neutral soap and a soft cloth; wipe up lemon, vinegar, wine and tomato at once; no limescale removers or acidic cleaners. The sealer applied in the workshop is renewed when a drop of water no longer beads on the surface, usually once a year: the details are in our guide to caring for a marble worktop.

Outdoors the attention shifts. Open pores hold dust and, in the shade, algae: clean with water and a soft brush, never a high-pressure washer, which gouges the voids. Flat surfaces are laid with a slight fall, because standing water is the first cause of staining and frost damage; the treatment is renewed at the end of the season and the finish stays matt, because a polish fades within a few years under sun and rain. Treated this way, travertine ages like the stones of Rome: it gains a patina, it does not wear out.

Travertine or Botticino? Botticino, a fine-grained marble from near Brescia, is more compact, absorbs less and has no voids: on a kitchen worktop it asks for less care and stays uniform. Travertine has more character, more warmth and a stratification Botticino does not possess; outdoors it is more at home.

Travertine or sintered stone? Dekton and the ultra-compact travertine-effect surfaces have no pores, fear neither acids, heat nor frost, and need no sealer: they are the choice for the working zone and for hard-used outdoor kitchens. But their pattern is printed and repeats. The most elegant answer is often within the same project: island and end panels in solid travertine, the work surface around the hob in sintered stone of the same tone.

We have worked Roman travertine since 1976 in our workshop in Aprilia, on the Via Pontina between Rome and Latina. The path: a free site survey and quotation in Rome, Latina and throughout Lazio; slabs chosen one by one, because no two slabs of travertine are alike; a three-dimensional design that shows the finished piece before the first cut; numerically controlled cutting and hand finishing; installation by our own team in Italy. For projects abroad we arrange shipping and installation, as we did for our project in Dubai; lead times are set out in the quotation. Write to us: we will tell you frankly where travertine gives its best and where another stone should sit beside it.