The region

The Capri limestone has been originally extracted around the town of Cabra, located in the province of Cordoba. But today, it is mainly extracted around the town of Zarcilla de Ramos,which is located in the region of Murcia - Spain. Zarcilla de Ramos lies in the area that is known as Lorca Highlands (Tierras Altas de Lorca in Spanish). The history of these Highlands is lost in time, with the first signs of human civilization found were from the Neolithic times. There are signs from the Bronze Age, the Iberian Culture, Muslim civilizations and others that followed.

Several Spanish monarchs controlled this area, until the 18th century when the Highlands were divided in areas and given to the control of landlords: with Alfonso Osorio taking control of Zarcilla de Ramos.


Murcia´s regional economy has been traditionally based on agriculture, due to its good climate and fertile land. However and due to the droughts during the 90´s, civil construction and tourism have become the base of Murcia´s economy. Despite this, agriculture is still an important engine of development in the region, which is considered by some as Europe´s orchard. Finally, it is important to note the increasing importance of the natural stone industry in the regional economy, with different extraction areas seen in several parts of Murcia region.

The limestone

The Capri limestone is currently explored by few companies around the town of Zarcilla de Ramos, Murcia. There are up to seven quarries currently exploring this limestone. The quarries are considered of large dimension, with large exploration areas and medium-sized width. The blocks extracted are normally of large dimension, but it is also common to find medium sized ones. It is estimated that there are considerable reserves of Capri limestone to be explored around Zarcilla de Ramos, which contrasts with the exploration stop that happens around Cabra due to environmental constraints.

The Capri is one of the most popular light beige-whitish coloured limestone from Spain. It is also an increasingly popular limestone internationally, with a very good market acceptance on both the North American and European markets.

Overall analysis

One of the reasons that makes the Capri limestone such an attractive stone is due to its uniform background and whitish colour. These characteristics make the wonders of constructors in several projects such as exterior cladding or coverings. The Capri limestone can compete directly with similar limestones from other Mediterranean countries, such as France, Italy or Turkey.

On the other hand, the Capri limestone is a soft natural stone that can easily oxidize. This limestone is very sensitive to humidity, having clear limitations for applications in certain climates. But despite these limitations, it is still a increasingly popular and demanded limestone throughout the World.