Karystos stone and cipollino marble.

Karystos stone, or cipollino marble, is a type of marble that has shale layers. Cipollino marbles are coloured marbles; the word comes from the Latin word cipolla which means onion and they were given this name because the colour and the contours on the marble are reminiscent of onions. Cipollino is made up of calcium carabonate that is not always white or grey because it contains ores that are found in shale (chlorite, serkite etc).

The surface of the marble has shale ores, but its basic structure is carbonate, which is the reason why Karystos stone is referred to in the market as slate.

The colour and texture of the stone has the appearance of shale, but inside it is as hard as marble.

Most quarries are in areas in which the cipollino marble is horizontally layered in thick strata as it is easier to extract in such places.

\

 The main quarry area is on the western foothills of Ochi and in the broader region of the Aghios Dimitrios valley.