Carrara Cathedral, Cathedral in Carrara, Italy

Carrara Cathedral is a church in Carrara with a rectangular plan of three naves and a semicircular apse, built using marble as permanent formwork filled with rubble. The façade, finished in the second half of the 14th century, has bands of white Lunense and black Colonnata marble, a portal with an archivolt carved with bestiary figures, and a Gothic rose window whose radial columns are each different. The bell tower, separate from the church, stands 33 meters high.

An earlier church, Ecclesia Sancti Andree de Carraria, is documented in 1035, but only a bas-relief survives from it. The present building was enlarged in 1099, when it became a baptismal parish church, and in 1151 passed to the Canons of San Frediano of Lucca. The apse existed by 1235, and the Gothic facade was finished in the second half of the 14th century.

The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Andrew, not to the patron saint Ceccardus, whose sarcophagus is kept inside. The name of the master Andrea appears on a carved cartouche on the apse window, likely a self-portrait of the sculptor who supervised the works. The bell tower's "Campanone", cast in 1888, was cracked on 4 November 1918 and recast in 1922.

The cathedral sits in the old town and is easy to reach on foot from most central points. Visiting in the early morning or late afternoon gives the best light on the marble facade, making the contrast between the white and black bands easier to appreciate.

The building is considered one of the first in the area to have been built entirely from the white marble of the Apuan Alps, long before that material became famous worldwide. This makes it an early example of a local craft tradition that would later shape the identity of the entire region.