Giorgio Conti (1928-2002) founded the company R.E.D. GRANITI in 1965. He was a prominent figure in the development of the stone industry and the supremacy firstly of the Apuo-Versilian area and subsequently of Italy; his influence even stretched to the international industry. Up until the mid-60s the Apuan stone industry was by and large focussed on the extraction and processing of marble produced in the quarries in Carrara and neighbouring areas and its future appeared somewhat uncertain. The “experts” emphasised the need to bring the industry up-to-date with new technology. This included the use of diamond tools, of which the local operators were quite mistrusting, in order to regain a competitive edge over rival industries by means of an increase in production. This was true but rather short-sighted since it pointed to a development limited to the extraction and processing of local products (the famous white Carrara marble), with at the most imports of coloured marble varieties from other Italian marble-producing areas (above all Trani, Trapani and Tivoli) and other countries (mainly France, Spain and Portugal). This, however, would not have been sufficient for the Apuan area to maintain its long-term world leadership if it had not been for the revolution in terms of technology and production in the granite processing branch of the industry. It was this development which turned the Apuan area into the “world marketplace for marble, stone and granite”, thereby enhancing the entire industry, largely increasing the number of new businesses and radically changing the social and economic situation in the entire area.